I changed my bank.

Lee Flanaghan
Sep 1, 2018 · 2 min read

OK, so here’s a quick one on banking. I know that sounds quite boring.

But, I’ve just changed my personal current account after about ten years with the same bank. (which was Co-Op by the way). And switching banks is something we don’t tend to do that often.

So, last week I switched to Monzo, which is one of the new breed of tech-based, mobile app only banks that have sprung up recently. And I mention this specifically this week because Campaign also wrote a piece about banks having what they called a “Brewdog” moment. Referring to how Brewdog kick-started the craft beer movement that led to the number of breweries more than doubling from 800 to 2000 in the space of 8 years.

So, will that happen to the banking industry? Maybe regulation might limit new entrants a bit more than in the brewing industry, but it does seem that change is happening.

The article points out some interesting parallels with how brewing was changed and certainly makes me realise that the growth of these new type of banks is about way more than a bit of cool technology.

By the way, Monzo has now hit 500,000 current accounts, that’s 1% of UK adults. Others such as Atom, Tandem and Starling are all growing as well.

Firstly, these new banks really change the experience.
All the traditional banks pretty much feel the same and leave customers unfulfilled. There is no one standout banking experience.

These new banks definitely feel friendly and more human which is quite an odd thing to say about an app.

The old banks seem to be out of touch with their audience or they just focus on cheap incentives to entice switching.

The new banks seem better at communicating values that connect with people.

They also seem to genuinely want to connect with their customers as a real community. Monzo and Starling both have really active forums and put on events to spark dialogue from users.

I think this is really exciting. My first full-time job at 18 years of age was in a bank and I hated it. As a customer for almost 30 years since, I am no fan of the banks. They seem to have been the same forever. It’s yet another industry that’s long overdue for disruption.

And on a final note, apparently, Amazon is in talks with JP Morgan to offer bank accounts.

I am only a week or so into Monzo and loving it so far. If you have already switched to one of the new breed of banks, I’d love to hear from you and find out how you’re getting on.

(Original text extracted from my podcast, episode 4)

Lee Flanaghan

Written by

Founder of Warm & Fuzzy, a creative agency in Birmingham, UK. Husband, Father & Dog owner. Lover of motorsport, football, snowboarding and mountain biking.

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