Nubank reportedly eyes $13 billion Monzo deal
“Fintech spent 15 years unbundling the bank. Now we may be watching it re-bundle the bank all over again.”
Transcript
New Bank is reportedly considering spending as much as $13 billion to buy Monzo , and I think this could mark the end of the neo-bank era. Not because digital banks failed, because it worked. For the last decade, Fintech was about unbundling the bank. Hundreds of startups attacking checking accounts, credit cards, lending,
investing, payments. Basically, every individual piece of your financial life, Monzo became one of the biggest winners in the UK. New Bank became one of the biggest winners in Latin America. Revolution became one of the biggest winners across Europe. But now something different is happening. The digital banks are starting to consolidate.
And new bank buying Monzo could be a perfect example of why, because banking is incredibly hard to expand internationally. Every country means new regulators, licenses, compliance, infrastructure, products, and most importantly, earning customer trust. Monzo already has more than 15 million customers, billions in deposits,
a UK banking license and infrastructure for expanding across Europe. New Bank could spend years trying to build that, or potentially spend $13 billion to buy it. And some leave the competitive landscape changes. It's no longer Monzo vs Revolut. It could become new bank plus Monzo vs Revolut.
New Bank already dominates huge parts of Latin America. It has received conditional approval for a US bank charter. Add Monzo when it potentially gets the UK and a pathway to Europe. That starts looking less like a Fintech, and a lot more like a global banking empire.
And I think this is where Fintech really gets interesting. The last era was about creating hundreds of companies to break apart the traditional bank. But the next era could be those winners buying each other and putting everything back together. Fintech spent 15 years unbundling the bank. Now we may be watching it re-bundle the bank all over again.
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