The news: Monzo is exiting the US again and turning its focus back to the UK and Europe. The company said it will close its operations and accounts, stop onboarding new customers, and lock out existing users in June 2026.

Zoom out: This is an about-face from October, when Monzo was reportedly considering an application for a US banking license. Monzo said its December 2025 European banking license gives it a bigger near-term growth opportunity in that market. The US withdrawal makes strategic sense from a cost perspective, too: The ROI of a bigger commitment would be depressed by the huge upfront cost of acquiring the banking charter. Regulatory challenges led Monzo to abandon its first try in 2021.

Reverse trendspotting: Several big foreign fintechs are pursuing US bank charters despite the hurdles. Nu, the parent company of Brazilian neobank Nubank, won conditional approval in January from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form a nationally chartered bank. Dutch neobank Bunq applied for a banking license that same month, followed by Revolut in March.

This marks second attempts for Revolut and Bunq, which exited the US market in 2021 and 2024, respectively, after getting tied up in regulatory reviews. Their renewed pushes suggest that, for well-capitalized players, the scale of the US market justifies the costs of offering banking services directly.

Implications for banks: The US market is already crowded with huge fintechs and digital-only offerings from licensed traditional banks. Neobanks must find markets niche enough to compete against megabanks but large enough to scale profitably.

It’s too soon to tell whether one of the big entrants will make new revenues worth the cost, but incumbents should be ready for continued pressure on their customer bases regardless.