Monzo is holding preliminary discussions with bankers to get “IPO-ready” by the end of this year — but the UK neobank’s CEO and its board are at loggerheads over where it should list.
Founded in 2015, Monzo is one of the UK’s largest neobanks with over 10m customers and £11.2bn in deposits. On Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that CEO TS Anil favoured floating the company in New York, while the company’s board prefers London.
If Monzo were to float in the US, it would mark another blow to the LSE (London Stock Exchange), which has in recent years failed to lure European tech companies like chip designer Arm and fintech Klarna away from New York listings.
Only $1bn was raised from London IPOs last year, pushing UK capital markets to 20th place in a ranking of global IPO venues compiled by Bloomberg; Oman’s, Spain’s and Turkey’s IPO venues all outperformed London’s capital markets scene.
Monzo making moves
Monzo originally offered customers a basic current account product with a prepaid card, but has since expanded into stocks and shares, “buy now, pay later”, and is currently introducing a pension product.
In June last year the company was valued at $5.9bn in an employee share sale and reported profitability for the first time soon after.
The company topped up its leadership team, appointing former exec at Brazilian neobank Nubank Tom Oldham as Group CFO and ex-Barclays investment banker Mark Newbery for the role of UK CFO.
While that’s made it a prime candidate for a public listing in the UK, discussions are in the early stages and no decision has been made, the FT reported.
Monzo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/monzo-board-ipo-venue-news/
