Global bank HSBC has invested $35mn in financial inclusion FinTech Monese.
In Brief:
Monese offers app-based current accounts, focused on customers who are unserved by traditional banks – such as migrants getting set up in a new country.
HSBC takes a stake of under 10% in the firm, so will be a significant but not the largest investor.
Monese has now raised a total of $208mn.
What does this mean?
HSBC is reportedly interested in the potential for Monese to boost its Banking-as-a-Service proposition. On the company’s blog, Monese says the investment is “part of a broader, strategic partnership that will focus on Monese’s industry-leading, cloud-based Platform as a Service business”.
Key aims for Monese have included making it quicker and easier to open an account without the traditional processes of mainstream banks.
HSBC hopes that Monese’s tech can help it deliver services “at pace and at scale” while Monese says the investment demonstrates “continued appetite from investors” as well as the strength of the platform.
