Digital challenger bank Monzo has unveiled its plans to launch a business current account.
The FinTech ‘unicorn’ said it is applying for “some funding” and, if successful, the money will enable the business to make business banking a priority and “launch something in the next year or two.
If it doesn’t get the funding, Monzo said it will still build business accounts but admits “it’ll just take longer”.
“There are more than five million small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, and almost nine million people either run their own small business or work for one,” Monzo said in a company blog post.
“That means there’s a big opportunity to bring Monzo to even more people, and help them manage their money better.
“And because the SME market is so big, it’s also a good opportunity for us to grow revenue and help build Monzo into a sustainable business.”
Monzo is applying for funding from a £700 million pot of money called the Alternative Remedies Package, which was set aside by RBS during the 2009 financial crisis.
Both banks and FinTechs can apply for some of the money and use it to build or expand their own products for SMEs, with the hope that this will create more competition and lead to better options for customers.
“It’s still early days, so we’re not sure exactly what business accounts will look like yet, or when we’ll launch them,” Monzo said.
“But the money will give us the resources we need to start work sooner, and hopefully launch something in the next year or two.”
The company added: “We don’t want building business bank accounts to distract us from making the Monzo current account amazing. So if we don’t get the funding, we won’t be able to dedicate lots of time and effort to business banking now.”