Monzo Explores Move Into Mobile Services As Digital Bank Eyes New Market

Monzo has confirmed it is exploring the launch of its own mobile service in a potential expansion that would see the digital bank compete with the UK’s largest network operators. The 10-year-old lender said the project is in the early stages of development but reflects growing customer demand for simpler and more integrated mobile contracts.

According to reports in the Financial Times, Monzo is considering offering digital SIMs, also known as eSIMs, which allow customers to connect to a mobile network without a physical SIM card. The bank is exploring monthly contract packages that could be delivered through its existing mobile app, combining financial and telecom services in a single platform.

Industry sources suggest Monzo would enter the market as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). MVNOs such as Giffgaff, Voxi, Tesco Mobile and Lebara lease capacity from the UK’s major network providers Vodafone, Three, EE and O2, while branding and managing customer-facing services themselves.

A Monzo spokesperson said: “Monzo is known for transforming products – and an entire industry – to deliver a great experience for customers. So when we heard from our customers that mobile contracts can be a pain point we set out to explore how we could do this the Monzo way, and are in the early stages of developing this idea.”

The move comes as Monzo continues to expand beyond core retail banking. The digital challenger ranked first in the latest Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) survey of banking satisfaction across Britain and Northern Ireland, where it was voted highest for overall service quality. The bank now has around 13 million customers, with one-third using Monzo as their primary account.

Monzo recorded its first annual profit last year and has grown to become the UK’s seventh-largest bank since its founding in 2015. Despite this growth, a significant share of customers still rely on traditional high street banks for salary deposits and day-to-day transactions, giving Monzo an incentive to deepen engagement and increase customer reliance on its services.

Analysts note that a mobile service could create new revenue streams, strengthen customer loyalty, and position Monzo as a broader digital services provider rather than a pure-play bank. The plan also highlights a wider trend of convergence between financial services and telecoms, with integrated offerings increasingly seen as a route to retaining customers in competitive markets.