We raised a million pounds on a crowdfunding platform in 96 seconds. Ninety-six seconds. That told us everything we needed to know about how much people hated their banks.
The coral card was a branding accident that became our identity. We picked it because it was different from every other bank card in your wallet. Turns out people love showing it off.
I stepped down as CEO because I was burned out. Completely. I'd been running at full speed for six years. The company was healthy. I wasn't. That's a bad combination.
British banks charge you £35 for going overdrawn by £1. Then they charge you interest on the overdraft fee. It's predatory and everyone knows it. We just said: we won't do that.
We have 7 million customers in the UK. The population is 67 million. One in ten British adults has a Monzo account. For a company founded in 2015, that's not bad.
The hardest part of building a bank isn't the technology. It's the regulation. Getting a UK banking license took two years and more lawyers than engineers. But once you have it, nobody can take it from you.