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Spot on analysis by Ville. I like that he is not getting carried away by all the things that could happen and focus on what is known and what is not.

That is really interesting news - but what about consumer protection? Charge-back rights etc? 

The merchant insentive is clear, but what's in it for consumers? 

When I saw the headline, I thought "Now it starts!" as I understood it as a real launch also toward consumers and not "just" the acceptance side of things. That the acceptance of these Chinese payment giants is being extended is still big news for the European payment scene.

I will keep looking forward to the day when AliPay or WeChat pay becomes available to European consumers. Any thoughts from the rest of you? When do you think this will happen?

While I sincerely wish Monzo and all (well most) of the other challenger and neo banks the very best, the article really highlights the biggest challenge for the challengers - the search for revenue. As the previous commenter pointed out, it is next to impossible to make money offering current accounts and basic payment services - not only in the UK, but across all of Europe. I could fear that these banks end up like the MVNOs of the telco industry. They serve a purpose of challenging services and prices of the incumbents, but the minute they start to pose any real threat they will be bought by the very incumbents they set out to challenge. To be a real disrupter in banking, you also need to disrupt the fundamental business model - and we have yet to see a good and viable solution for that. 

While you still come across the occasional revolutionist among the fintech startups, the industry has matured in a way that has moved the rhetoric from "young vs. old" or "David vs. Goliath" to a mutual understanding that nobody knows banking (i.e. compliance, capital requirements etc) better than banks and the fintechs of the world are not set out to revolutionise banking, but to improve financial services as such - to the benefit of both banks and consumers.  

The current owners are only IPO'ing a fraction of the total share volume. The expected total value of Nets is currently estimated at DKK 35-38 billion (or twice as much as they owners paid 2.5 years ago)