Monzo’s Tom Blomfield swaps CEO title for president role
Monzo’s co-founder Tom Blomfield is stepping down from his UK CEO position after five years, and instead will be taking on the newly created role of president at the challenger bank, TechCrunch reports.
Former Visa, Standard Chartered and Citi exec TS Anil, who was hired in December as Monzo’s US CEO, will also hold the UK CEO role, subject to regulatory approvals.
“The stuff I really, really love is community, talking to customers, helping develop the product proposition,” says Blomfield
The challenger bank announced in April that it was applying for a US banking licence as part of its stateside push, spearheaded by Anil, who brings his experience dealing with regulators from within large corporate banks.
Whilst Anil heads up the day to day operations and oversees the bank’s regulatory activities, Blomfield will move back from his company-wide management role and focus on the long-term product innovation for Monzo.
The change to leadership in the bank’s home market comes just a week after the Financial Times uncovered that Monzo’s valuation had plummeted 40% from £2 billion to £1.25 billion in its latest fundraising.
Read more: Monzo’s valuation plummets 40% to £1.25bn in latest fundraising
The fintech, which has more than 4 million customers and 1,500 employees, plans to raise a – yet to be confirmed – £70 million to £80 million round, securing its cash position into the second half of 2021 when it plans to be a lot closer to profitability.
And last month, Monzo, like many European challenger banks who are also raising or have raised more funds to stay afloat during the crisis, slashed staff. It fired 165 customer support employees when it shut its Las Vegas office.
Blomfield, who has decided to take no salary for the next 12 months to help Monzo through the coronavirus crisis, told TechCrunch he had been thinking about a role change for the last 18 months.
“I went through all the stuff I love about my job, and it was all the stuff I did in the first two or three years,” he says.
“And I went through all the stuff that drains me, and it’s all the stuff I’ve done in the last two years, honestly. Things I think TS is awesome at.”
Blomfield says “the stuff I really, really love is community, talking to customers, helping develop the product proposition” and “long-term vision”.
The former UK CEO wants to “unwind” his involvement “a little bit in more formal regulated banking activities”.
Read next: Monzo bags banking veteran as its new head of global financial crime
