Pockit buys Monese to help serve the ‘unbanked’

Pockit, a financial services business for the “unbanked”, has acquired Monese, an HSBC-backed rival, creating a combined business serving three million customers.
Monese, which was also backed by UK taxpayers via the Future Fund scheme, was once understood to have been valued at £1 billion but had been seeking funds to ensure it survival.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Pockit is understood to have paid a modest sum to acquire Monese, which offers current accounts and money transfer services as an alternative to traditional banks.
Virraj Jatania, the chief executive and co-founder of Pockit, said that the deal would be “transformational” for the business he set up in 2014 and “great news for millions of customers poorly served by traditional banks”.
There are an estimated 17.5 million people in the UK who struggle to access financial services.
Monese was Britain’s first mobile-only banking service. It was founded in 2013 by Norris Koppel, 47, an Estonian entrepreneur, after his own experiences of struggling to open a bank account as a migrant worker. Like Pockit, it focuses on customers who face difficulties in accessing traditional financial services. It has more than two million customers in more than 30 countries.
Jatania, 36, noted that Monese has a presence in Europe and has e-money and consumer credit licences.
The e-money licence will reduce Pockit’s cost per transaction, while the consumer credit licence will allow it to launch lending products. Jatania said he wanted to tackle the “huge problem” of illegal loan sharks preying on low-income families.
Monese’s business-to-business arm, XYB, has been spun off as a standalone business, with Pockit acquiring its consumer operation. HSBC invested in Monese in 2022 but wrote off its stake this year, recent filings show.
Jatania, who will lead the enlarged business, said he “wouldn’t look at it as a rescue deal, but as a great opportunity”. He said: “It immediately propels us to a size where we can support financial inclusion for a critical mass of people who would otherwise be locked out of mainstream finance.”
The combined entity will process about £5 billion worth of transactions a year. About 100 staff will join Pockit and Jatania said there were no plans for redundancies. “This is driven by having additional scale, not cost-savings, and product development for consumers who rely on these products.”
Monese and Pockit will run independently pending a review. Pockit’s shareholder, Puma Growth Partners, plans to invest up to £15 million to fund the integration. Koppel is expected to remain involved.
Pockit’s other backers include Sir Alex Ferguson, 82, the former Manchester United manager, Jon Moulton, 73, the private equity veteran, and the Future Fund.