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About Monese and Monzo
Monese and Monzo are two challenger banks born in Britain, having been founded in London’s financial district; but the similarities don’t stop there. Both companies were launched in 2015 and have been making waves in the world of digital banking over the last six years, each taking on the task of enticing customers away from traditional methods of banking and converting them to online banking alternatives.
Monese was developed as a solution to the obstacles founder Norris Koppel experienced after relocating to the UK from Estonia. He decided to redesign the sign-up process, developing a more inclusive, on-demand banking service that enables all customers to open a fully licensed UK bank account in minutes. The Monese registration process bypasses the traditional banking requirements that request proof of a credit history, fixed income, utility bills and residential address. Instead, Monese is widely accessible to customers around Europe, with all features and services available via the mobile app. The company has since expanded its services to include EUR accounts as well as GBP.
By comparison, Monzo primary function is to provide a peer-to-peer payments platform which is currently only available to customers in the UK. As another cutting-edge app-based challenger bank, Monzo has evolved from an original prototype that served as a pay-as-you-go prepaid card, into an FCA regulated bank offering current accounts, overdrafts and loans, as well as international money transfer services. Monzo founder, Tom Blomfield, worked for competitor challenger bank Starling before deciding to start his own venture.
Having familiarised ourselves with the core characteristics of each brand, it is time for us to take a closer look at the finer details of their international money transfer services.
Which brand has lower fees?
Understanding the fee structure employed by a company is the best way to gauge how much money will reach your overseas recipient.
Monese transfer fees are determined by the type of account the customer holds:
Classic Account: customers will be charged 0.5% of the transfer amount (or a minimum of £2.00 GBP or equivalent) when sending funds to a non-Monese account
Simple Account : customers will be charged 2% of the transfer amount (with a minimum of £2.00 GBP or equivalent) when sending money to a non-Monese account
Premium account: these customers benefit from a fee-free service
To ensure transparency Monese displays all fees throughout the transfer process.
✅ Verdict: Monzo wins this one
Monzo has partnered with money transfer giant Wise in a bid to guarantee the best possible price for their customers. Due to the very low fees charged by Wise, Monzo beats Monese in this department.
Which brand offers better exchange rates?
Exchange rates can vary greatly and it is always worth ensuring you know the exact mid-market rate for your currency pairing before submitting an overseas payment.
Monese claims to offer “money-saving exchange rates” at the wholesale mid-market rate.
Upon closer inspection - using the Monese money transfer tool - it would appear this is not entirely accurate, as most currency pairings incur a small markup. However, the amount of the markup will vary depending on the type of account you have with Monese.
The average markup amounts to 1 - 2% above the mid-market rate which is more competitive than the 4 - 6% markup applied to most other international bank transfers.
✅ Verdict: Monzo bags another win
Thanks to their savvy partnership with Wise, Monzo has won in this department too, proving to be the best value option out of the two brands.
Which brand covers more locations?
We will be reviewing the location coverage of both Monese and Monzo, to see which countries customers can send money to and receive money from.
Monese accounts are available to customers in the following 9 European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the UK; with the bank striving to expand its reach to support additional international markets.
Sending currencies are limited to EUR, GBP and RON, but there are 34 different receiving currencies to choose from.
✅ Verdict: Monese wins this here
Monese caters to multiple European markets as well as matching Monzo’s 34 sending countries. This means customers banking with Monese are able to send and receive money in more places around the world than Monzo customers.
Which is faster?
For many customers searching for the right money transfer service provider, the speed at which funds will become available to a recipient is one of the deciding factors.
There are different transfer speeds available with Monese, these are as follows:
Money transfers made within the UK using the Faster Payments option will reach the recipient instantly
International money transfers sent to SEPA countries before 11 a.m. CET will be completed within the same day; after 11am the transfer will take approximately one business day to arrive
International money transfers outside of the SEPA zone will take around two to four business days to reach the recipient
✅ Verdict: Monzo scoops up another win
It would appear customers sending funds abroad with Monzo (via Wise) are likely to experience a faster transfer speed than those sending money overseas with Monese.
Which brand offers more transfer & payment options?
Money transfer companies often support multiple transfer and payment options in a bid to ensure an all-inclusive service.
Monese customers can choose from the following transfer options:
Sending funds between Monese accounts: instant transfer both ways including on weekends
Local transfers between two GBP accounts in the UK: instant transfer both ways including on weekends; BACS payments can take 3 business days to receive, and CHAPS payments are deposited on the same business day if sent before 2pm CET
SEPA transfers between two EUR Monese accounts: deposited on next business day both ways
Local transfers between two RON Monese accounts: deposited within 1 business day both ways
International transfers sent from outside the EEA between two Monese accounts: transfer speed will depend on the country customers send to and receive from
Monese supports payments via bank transfer only.
✅ Verdict: Monzo has better options
Thanks to their partnership with Wise, it appears Monzo is able to offer more advantageous and straightforward transfer options for customers who need to move money from one country to another, regardless of budget and payment method.
What do users have to say about each brand?
As two app-based challenger banks, reviewing user reviews posted online will provide insight into the overall experience customers can expect.
On the Google Play Store, Android users have given the Monese app a respectable rating of 4.4 out of 5. Over on the App Store, it has received an impressive 4.8 out of 5. These high ratings indicate Monese lives up to expectations as a useful mobile banking app.
Elsewhere, Monese has achieved an overall rating of 3.5 out of 5 on TrustPilot, with more than 20,000 customers scoring the company based on their experiences.
Despite their average Trustpilot ranking, Monese has received a number of awards from peers in the industry, including the coveted title of Best Challenger Bank at the 2016 European Fintech Awards.
✅ Verdict: Monzo has a better online reputation
Monzo appears to have made a better impression on the challenger bank community than Monese has: having received praise from their peers in the banking industry as well as largely positive feedback from users across the UK.
What brand offers better ease of use, accessibility, transparency & security?
Identifying how each brand performs in these four crucial areas will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how reliable Monese and Monzo are.
Accessibility: Accessibility is at the heart of the Monese brand, as a challenger bank that was borne out of the CEO’s frustrations with the accessibility of traditional legacy banks in the UK. As a result, Monese is specially designed to be user friendly, with a fast and easy sign-up process that supports multiple languages.
Transparency: When it comes to sending money overseas Monese ensures transparency throughout by displaying the fees and other costs associated with the transfer. However, a number of online reviews cite a lack of communication and failure to explain account closures and delayed payments.
Security: As far as security goes, Monese is a safe, fully licensed bank that is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. The company is also a registered electronic money institution (EMT) that adheres to electronic money and payment regulations. Further to this, Monese offers single-device access, secure login and multi-factor data encryption and authentication protocols.
Ease of use: Optimised for mobile use, the Monese app is said to be well designed and very intuitive, with customers rating the app highly online.
✅ Verdict: Monese performs strongest in each area
This was a tough call, but it seems Monese excels in each of these four areas. From super easy to use, to accessibility for customers across Europe, to state-of-the-art security protocol and transparent terms of use; Monzo narrowly loses out on this win.
Additional features
Here we will run through extra features that benefit Monese and Monzo customers, looking specifically at any innovative fintech services that enhance the user experience.
Monese Multi-currency account: sign up for a prepaid multi-currency card for easy overseas spending
Monese Spending Overview Tool makes it easy for users to stay on top of their finances and set up daily, weekly or monthly spending budgets
Saving pots for customers who want to build their savings: create up to 10 pots at a time
Supports Apple Pay and Google Pay
Joint accounts and business accounts available
PayPal integration: customers can merge their PayPal and Monese accounts
Avios integration: customers can collect and keep track of their Avios points when purchasing from select stores
✅ Verdict: Monese wins again
Monese offers slightly more unique and useful additional features than Monzo, all of which are designed to streamline customers’ spending and help them manage their finances better, both at home and abroad.
Final verdict: who is better?
In conclusion, it would appear that Monzo is the stronger challenger bank of the two, offering the more favourable options for those making an international money transfer. Although only available to UK residents - if you are based outside the UK, we suggest you check out a money transfer company operating in your country - Monzo’s decision to team up with Wise, titans of the remittance industry, means the company is equipped with the best value deals on the market. Use our comparison engine to see for yourself how much money you can save when signing up with Wise.
Having said this, as this comparison has proven, Monese is a high performing company with a lot of promise as well as many fantastic features. Despite not winning this comparison, we would recommend Monese for anyone based in or travelling around Europe that may need to arrange euro transfers. We hope this comparison has provided greater insight into how these challenger banks handle international money transfers.
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