Monzo arrives in Spain eleven years after its creation to join the race for savings. It is not unknown in the UK, its country of origin, where it has nearly 16 million customers, surpassing Revolut, and is the first neobank to challenge major British banks such as Lloyds, Nationwide, Barclays, NatWest, and HSBC. Its General Director for Spain, Francisco Sierra, argues that the digital entity is not entering the race late compared to the neobanks that have been establishing themselves in our country. "Monzo's strategic pillar is expansion across Europe, and Spain is the gateway to the continental part. Unlike many other banks that have started operating in various countries with a European licence, we have decided to succeed in each country we enter" and "understand our customers very well."
The entity will operate in Spain with an Irish banking licence, although it will offer its customers a Spanish IBAN and Bizum. It has 80 employees in our country, distributed between its offices in Madrid and Barcelona. For the moment, Monzo will focus solely on savings-related products, such as interest on current accounts and debit cards for its customers. The offer for consumer loans or mortgages, where it is very competitive in the UK through a partnership with the specialised broker Habito, is not on the table yet, although Sierra acknowledges that the goal is to "leverage all the experience from the UK that works there to adapt it to the Spanish market." In the first months of operation, they will assess whether this is something that Spanish customers would view positively.
Similarly, they are considering offering investment options through a broker in stocks, ETFs, or investment funds, although no timelines are mentioned. In the UK market, they launched the broker in 2023.
Given the success and progress made by European peers such as Revolut, Trade Republic, or N26 in Spain, Monzo is entering the market with an aggressive commercial offer for new customers to grow in savings: it will provide a 4% AER on balances up to ¤5,000 for a period of 12 months; and will reward the excess up to ¤100,000 at a return of 2.5%.
Sierra insists that their aim is to become the "main" bank for their customers. According to figures provided by the entity, they have 10 million active customers monthly. Of these, half would consider Monzo as their primary bank, which is traditionally where customers have their salary paid in, although each bank applies a different criterion. In their case, they consider a primary customer to be anyone who makes transactions in their account exceeding £800 within a 35-day period.
What differentiates them from other neobanks and traditional banks? Sierra identifies two key elements: "one is the family component, such as the shared account (with partners, flatmates, etc.) or the account for children, with parental controls (limits on amounts or limits at specific merchants, notifications to parents about where their child spends money, etc.); and then the business and self-employed aspect. That is where we have also invested a lot and where we have a very good opportunity because digital banks have not yet fully entered this space. For example, digital invoices are integrated into the mobile [with alerts from the bank about dates and payments], being a very good tool for managing cash flow when you are self-employed. And the most fabulous tool from the UK that we are bringing here is the automatic tax savings pot, which allows you, for example, to prepare VAT payments in advance," Sierra enumerates during his meeting with EL MUNDO. Of their 16 million customers in the UK, one million are SMEs.
On the other hand, the subscription model that operates in the UK exclusively for businesses will not be replicated in Spain for now. There, they have a collaboration agreement with Uber One in the UK - which includes the driver service as well as home delivery. This will not be replicated in our country, although the entity would be "100% open to reaching agreements with local and global partners."
Monzo's latest valuation, according to the last corporate operation with a placement among employees two years ago, reaches ¤5.4 billion at current exchange rates (£4.5 billion). The entity recorded an EBITDA of ¤199.6 million at the end of 2025 and a net profit of ¤103 million at current exchange rates (£86.3 million).