British digital bank Monzo is to shut down its operations in the US to focus on its core business in the UK and expansion into Europe.
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“With a fast-growing customer base of 15 million in the UK and the growth opportunity our European banking licence creates, we’re making a deliberate, strategic decision to focus on scaling in our home market and Europe and to step away from the US,” the company said.
Monzo has been circling the US market for years. The bank’s original application for a US banking licence, made in 2021, was met with a standoff from regulators. Despite this, Monzo moved out of private beta in the country in 2022 and opened up to the wider public.
As reported by Bloomberg, Monzo will stop on-boarding new customers and lay off about 50 employees, citing a person familiar with the matter. Existing customers can continue to use their accounts until June, the report added.
In an email sent to US customers, the bank says: “We know this isn’t the news you were hoping for, and we’re really sorry. We’re incredibly grateful you chose us for digital banking.”
The bank recently announced announced plans to grow its Irish team to 70, almost doubling the headcount by mid-2027. The announcement follows Monzo becoming the first digital bank to secure a full European banking licence through the Central Bank of Ireland in December 2025, enabling the company to bring its personal and business banking products to customers across the EU, starting in Ireland.
