Monzo, a neobank founded eight years ago, is considered one of the grown-ups of the European fintech scene. As it’s grown from a small startup to a valid challenger to existing banking incumbents, it’s steadily added to its war chest of board members.
The firm currently has nine directors on its board, according to information from Companies House and confirmed by Monzo. They include long-time investor Eileen Burbidge of Passion Capital, and recent additions such as Meta vice president Lizzie Runham and former Zynga COO Matthew Bromberg.
The board has also shed members — most notably founder Tom Blomfield, who stepped down as CEO in May 2020 and rescinded his seat on the board. At the beginning of this year, former chief risk officer at M&S Bank Keith Woollard resigned from the board after close to seven years.
What is a board?
In general, boards consist of elected individuals who represent shareholders, have a say over strategy and can sign off on key decisions. Early-stage startup boards usually consist of the founders and early investors, but expand as the company matures.
“Being a director comes with legal, fiduciary, and statutory obligations,” explains SeedLegals CEO Anthony Rose. “You can be criminally liable if the company trades insolvent and you have to spend time on management.”
Board members are often paid handsomely for taking on that responsibility. In the 12 months to the end of February, Monzo directors received just over £4.5m in total, with its highest-paid director netting £2.6m, per its most recent financial statement. That's a mix of salary, fees and share-based payments.
So who's on Monzo's board?
Eileen Burbidge — board member since April 2015
As its longest-instated board member, Eileen Burbidge fits neatly into the category of an investor board member. As a partner at Passion Capital, she invested in the neobank as part of its seed round in 2015, when she was also appointed to the board.
She’s also overseen the neobank’s journey from a challenger to a regulated bank with 7m users. It’s not been all plain sailing: Burbidge was part of the board when founder Blomfield stepped down.
“Tom has been stifled,” said Burbidge at the time. “We haven’t had the best of Tom and the reasons Passion invested in the first place — Tom hasn’t been able to do those things.”
In particular, she noted his struggle with regulatory duties, which led the board to elect its US lead at the time, TS Anil, as CEO and board member.
Amy Kirk — board member since January 2017
Amy Kirk is Monzo’s longest-serving independent board member and brings experience from lending and risk roles at Wonga, Bank of America and MBNA America.
She’s also chair of its Remuneration Committee, which not only reviews pay policy for the company, but also for other board members such as the chair of the board and executive directors.
Gary Hoffman — board member since February 2019
Veteran banking executive Gary Hoffman heads up the board and is tasked with ensuring it functions as intended, along with chairing its meetings. He’s also chair of the Nomination and Governance Committee, which oversees board appointments and conducts reviews both of its current members and its effectiveness.
Beginning his career at Barclays, he left the financial giant to head up Northern Rock in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis. After steering the bank through a government bailout, he became CEO of challenger NBNK Investments. He later led Hasting Insurance Group through a public listing — handy experience for a bank that’s made a public showing of its IPO ambitions.
Fiona McBain — board member since January 2020
Previously CEO of insurance firm Scottish Friendly, Fiona McBain is another City heavyweight recruited by the neobank for its board. She’s also chair of the Monzo board’s Audit Committee, which looks over its financial disclosures and reporting.
Last month, she stepped down as chair of the Scottish Mortgage investment fund following a public row over its venture capital investments.
“I have complete confidence that Scottish Mortgage’s board provides robust governance and oversight,” she said, after fellow board member Amar Bhidé criticised the fund’s exposure to private assets in the days before McBain’s departure.
TS Anil — CEO and board member since October 2020
Current CEO TS Anil stepped in after founding chief Tom Blomfield stepped down citing struggles with his mental health. He also replaced Blomfield as board member in October 2020.
Valerie Dias — board member since June 2021
Valerie Dias spent nearly 25 years at Visa Europe, rising to chief financial officer before leading its risk operations. That experience naturally lends itself to her new role as chair of the Risk Committee, which she took over from departed board member Keith Woollard in January last year.
James Davies — board member since September 2021
James Davies is Monzo’s chief financial officer. In larger scale firms, it’s not typical for both the CFO and CEO to hold board positions as it could sacrifice its independence — but for smaller organisations, it’s not unheard of.
Lizzie Runham — board member since March 2022
In March last year, Monzo topped up its board by adding current Meta human resources VP Lizzie Runham to its ranks. She’s hardly a banking newbie, however: she’s previously held executive HR roles at Barclays and Standard Chartered Bank.
Matthew Bromberg — board member since March 2023
With much of his experience in the gaming industry, board newbie Matthew Bromberg is an outlier when compared to the financial heavyweights on the board. Still, his appointment suggests that the neobank may be ramping up its acquisition strategy. As chief operating officer of gaming firm Zynga, he closed nine major transactions, according to his LinkedIn. Before that, he held a senior position at gaming giant Electronic Arts.
“Matthew brings considerable experience in high growth companies, expansion and taking companies through initial public offerings,” said board chair Hoffman, in Monzo's latest annual report.
While Monzo has typically held off from labelling itself as a super-app like competitor Revolut, Bromberg’s appointment hints at a change of tack.
A spokesperson for the bank told Sifted that Bromberg’s experiences across tech, consumer and finance are a “huge asset” as it continues its mission to “become the one app customers use to manage their entire financial lives”.
Update, July 18: We previously described Amy Kirk as Monzo's "most senior" independent director. We have updated that to "longest-serving" independent director for clarity.
