Mondo: Filling the ‘Digital Expectations Gap’ in Banking

As legacy banks deal with outdated core systems and processes steeped in tradition, more and more challengers are entering the competitive fray, willing to fill the gap in digital expectations of an increasingly mobile consumer.

By Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand and Publisher of the Digital Banking Report

Not totally unlike the ‘free banking’ era in the U.S. during the mid-1800’s, there is a growing energy in the U.S., U.K., and globally around the establishment of new banking organizations to better serve the changing needs of today’s consumer. Never to be mistaken for the wealthy financiers Aaron Burr, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Wells or William Fargo, Mondo co-founders Tom Blomfield and Jason Bates are serial fintech entrepreneurs who want to create a new bank to meet the specific needs of the new digital consumer.

Based in the U.K., Mondo will be similar to organizations in the U.S. such as Moven, Simple and GoBank, and new U.K. mobile-first challengers Atom Bank and Starling Bank, building a banking app around a smartphone. But, unlike the majority of these neobanks, the startup will be a ‘full stack’, mobile-first bank with its own full banking license developing its banking software from scratch (Atom Bank also has its own banking license already).

Are we about to see a wave of new banks, created by start-ups or as offspring of existing legacy banking organizations to fill the widening ‘digital expectations gap’?

What is Mondo?

Similar to many of the new fintech challenger banks, Mondo will be leverage the power of the mobile device to provide real-time reporting of transactions, geo-locational mapping of transactions, and a highly simplified peer-to-peer payment capability. As opposed to trying to be a lot of things for a lot of people, the focus will be on providing the best current (checking) account for the digital consumer.

In an interview with The Financial Brand, Tom Blomfield, CEO of Mondo said, “Mondo is fundamentally different because our entire experience is designed around the smartphone. Legacy high street banks have thousands of branches to support and seem to think of mobile banking as an afterthought. We’re building our core systems from the ground up, based on today’s technology, rather than simply building a veneer over existing legacy software.”

Blomfield went on to say, “We’re focussed on making the best current (checking) account in the world, rather than trying to sell additional services such as mortgages, credit cards or payment protection plans. The customer will be able to access many of the services offered by others from within the Mondo app. What we want to provide is a great mobile current (checking) account.”

When we asked about the channels that Mondo will support, Blomfield was quick to respond, “We’re strictly online-only and mobile-first. We’ll gauge customer demand for a website, but for now, we’re focussing on making a great iPhone app. Our demographic doesn’t want branches or even access to call-centers. You should be able to do everything from your phone in seconds.”

Mondo is currently in a testing phase and has said it will be start ‘alpha testing’ with 500 prepaid debit cards that can be controlled by the app in October (consumers can become part of a waiting list similar to what Simple and Moven used years ago). Mondo hopes to get its full banking license at the start of next year and launch the banking app shortly thereafter.

How Will Mondo Work?

One of the benefits of building a completely new bank ‘from the ground up’ is the ability to process enormous amounts of data in real time and provide actionable alerts immediately, as opposed to hours, or days, later. In addition, starting from scratch allows the developers at Mondo to be responsive to the needs of potential consumers.

To see screen shots and understand how legacy banks can respond, read more here ...