Monese, the mobile current account banking app, expands to Europe

You wait all day for a multi-currency account and three come along at once. Give or take a month or so, that’s appears to be the case with news that Monese, the London fintech that offers a mobile banking app and current account, is adding support for Euro accounts. It follows Revolut and Transferwise‘s recently launched multi-currency offerings, albeit they are targeting a different segment of the banking market.

Specifically, as of sometime next month, you’ll be able to open a Monese account in 19 different European countries, in addition to the U.K. European accounts will be available in local languages, while the premise is that they will, for all tents and purposes, act like a local Euro bank account with its own IBAN number.

“Users will be able to sign up for a Euro account via the app, and can also have a GBP account at the same time,” says the company. “Individuals working in different European countries will be able to receive salary payments into their local account, without being charged excessive fees for doing so. Currently, over 75 per cent of Monese’s GBP customer accounts are used as salary receiving accounts”.

More broadly, the move to support Eurozone countries makes a lot of sense for Monese’s target customer: people, including expats/immigrants, who are currently underserved by traditional and incumbent banking services. It is also a recognition that people are becoming more nomadic and international, moving from one country to another, either for work or socially.

Added to this the fact that Mosese reckons there are 138 million people still unbanked in Europe, and expanding its target market beyond the U.K. is a no-brainer now that it has built out and tested its core offering, including settling on a revenue model that sees it charge a transparent monthly fee for using your Monese current account.