Monzo takes the axe to Monzo Plus team; goes back to the drawing board

The premium service, which went live five months ago, was a key plank in Monzo's attempts to drum up additional revenue as it strives to break even. Users were charged up to £13 per month for a range of packaged service bundles like additional ATM withdrawal allowances, travel insurance, airport lounge access, Monzo merchandise and prize draws.

Tom Davis, product marketing manager at Monzo announced the news of the service suspension on the bank's community chatboard, stating: "For a number of reasons, things just haven’t gone the way they should have with Monzo Plus so far this year. And ultimately it’s you, our early adopters, who felt that frustration the most.

"We’re going back to basics and starting from the beginning. While we are fortunate to see our customer base growing faster than ever, it’s important we take steps now to ensure we’re moving towards becoming a sustainable business. One of our biggest opportunities for this is a paid subscription that unlocks more value for our customers and gives us steady revenue in return."

Monzo is bringing in an entirely new "smaller and more nimble" team to take the project forward, he says, and inviting more regular feedback on its plans from users.

"We want to make sure you aren’t stuck with an offering that doesn’t work for you," says Davis. "If you have an existing subscription and want to cancel, you can at any time by contacting customer support in the app."

Davis confirms that additional offers promised to Monzo Plus Supporter subscribers will now be withdrawn and refunds plus interest paid back to customers who signed up.

"I know this is frustrating, but it was a tough decision we had to make so our small team can focus on delivering a paid offering you can really be proud of," he says. "So forget what you know about Monzo Plus, or what we’ve told you. Everything is on the table."