Challenger bank Monzo is shuttering its US business to focus on the UK and Europe.
London-based Monzo will cease onboarding new customers and make about 50 employees redundant, Bloomberg first reported on Tuesday.
A spokesperson from Monzo said the London-based fintech company is “making a deliberate, strategic decision to focus on scaling in our home market and Europe and to step away from the US”. Current customers will still be able to use their accounts until June.
This move comes amid a broader transatlantic push among Britain’s neobanks. Revolut applied for a US national bank licence last month, while Starling Bank last year told Sifted it was also seeking a banking licence in the country. London-based SME lender OakNorth bought the Michigan-based Community Unity Bank last March.
Monzo first announced its US soft launch in 2019, starting with basic features such as instant spending notifications, pots to split savings and fee-free spending abroad.
The initial plan was to roll out slowly and work with a partner bank while waiting for its US baking license, but Monzo’s first application for a license was withdrawn in 2021 after it was reportedly told by regulators it was unlikely to be approved.
Following Monzo securing a full European banking license from the European Central Bank in December 2025, the neobank plans to focus on European expansion and building its 15 million-strong customer base in the UK.
This is the first major pivot under newly appointed CEO Diana Layfield, who took over after reports said founder TS Anil was asked to step down by the digital bank’s board following disagreements over the future direction of the company.
