Frank Ray

Monzo Bank has become the latest bank to join the MTD goldrush as the digital bank announces that sole traders and landlords will be able to file taxes directly to HMRC from their business bank account without the need for separate software. The filing tool, provided via a partnership with Sage Embedded services, supports the quarterly MTD submissions and end-of-year returns, starting from the 2026/2027 tax year. Monzo joins the likes of NatWest Group, Starling and Tide in the race to attract business bank accounts -- a recommended step in the MTD process. Full story in the comments below 👇

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Open banking was covered widely at this week's Labour Party Conference, with widespread recognition of its critical role in powering UK economic growth and innovation. A standout moment was our Policy Director, Luke Ryder joining a fintech panel alongside Luke Charters MP, TrueLayer’s Megan Coulson, Financial Conduct Authority's Sacha Sadan, and Startup Coalition’s Charlie Mercer. The discussion explored: ✅ The journey OBL is supporting with industry and regulators to secure a long-term framework for open banking; ✅ How we can accelerate progress towards Open Finance to unlock benefits for consumers, businesses and the wider economy; ✅ The growing collaboration across the ecosystem to make this vision a reality. We were also pleased to participate in Innovate Finance and EY’s roundtable on Tech’s Plan for Change, where open banking was highlighted as a prime example of UK-led innovation. Attendees welcomed the move towards a sustainable, long-term model that supports the full ecosystem and enables continued growth. OBL remains committed to working with industry, policymakers, regulators, and consumer and business representatives to support this flourishing UK sector and ensure open banking continues to play a pivotal role in driving inclusive economic growth. #OpenBanking #OpenFinance #Innovation #FinTech #FutureOfFinance #Innovation #DigitalInnovation #TechInnovation The Labour Party

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Having spent a long time working for a large tech firm, and frequently facing the innovators dilemma as a result, it’s interesting to reflect on the dilemma facing central and commercial banks as regards digital money. This came home to me at today's excellent Bank of England's Payments Innovation conference during a BIS presentation on Project Agora, where correspondent banking is being transformed by 7 central banks, 40+ commercial banks and 5 currencies, using a shared universal ledger. A great question from the audience: “If you have a universal ledger why do you need correspondent banking?” This is spot on, central banks and incumbent commercial banks have a motivation to transform (re-plumb) the existing model rather than build an entirely new model (with the potential cannabilisation and innovators dilemma risks). Whilst Agora is to be applauded and will doubtless move the industry forward, it’s not yet addressing the bigger opportunity which the fast evolving stablecoin and TMMF developments are accelerating towards.. Tony McLaughlin Lee McNabb Peter Left Ryan Hayward John O'Neill #stablecoins #tokenization #digital assets

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Interesting FT Lex column citing Enders Analysis data. It's not surprising that Monzo Bank is positioning itself as a disruptor in the mobile space in the way that it has been in banking, but I'm not convinced that customers really see mobile contracts "...as a pain point". In-contract price increases from the network operators do though encourage recontracting (and hence churn inevitably), even if customers are not quite as irritated by them as they were when they were linked to very high inflation. Whilst Revolut and Klarna have yet to launch their planned services in the UK, it seems likely that the fintechs will have a reasonable degree of success given their sizeable and happy customer bases, although their impact will be limited by e-SIM-only distribution, for now. Whilst the Financial Times article talks about the limited impact this would have on the fintechs, the bigger consideration in my view is for the mobile industry, particularly given the ever-rising investment demands on the sector. We'll write more about this in our UK Mobile Quarterly report next week and subscribers can read about the strategic issues around MVNOs in our report from last year, and related updates. https://lnkd.in/ebRBWRNJ Full FT Lex article here. https://lnkd.in/e74_-fw2 James Barford Artemis Loynes Henry Millen Noah Quli

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Our Managing Director of Payments and Innovation, Jana Mackintosh, features in Finextra today discussing tokenised deposits. “Tokenised deposits offer the same security and familiarity of regular bank money, but with added features such as programmability - which in practice means better functionality, giving customers more control and security with their money.”   Read in full: https://lnkd.in/eTU-E9pW.   #UKFinance #Tokenisation #Payments 

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If you ever question why collaboration pays, look at this result: advocacy groups from the #payments industry including UK Finance and The Payments Association have prevented well-meaning but disproportionate regulators from imposing 'creative' but what would have been seriously damaging changes to safeguarding regulations in the UK. The team at Travers Smith led by Natalie Lewis and Matt Humphreys highlight this outcome in their article, explaining how the changes being made will mean EMIs and PIs can continue to compete on a level playing field. World class collaboration. Riccardo Tordera-Ricchi Robert Courtneidge Mitch (Munish) Trehan Neil Harris Jana Mackintosh Nuala Jackson Sophie Boissier Ben Agnew Tom Brewin https://lnkd.in/evjedX7H

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The British Business Bank has agreed an ENABLE Guarantee transaction of up to £300m with Close Brothers Asset Finance, unlocking fresh lending capacity for smaller UK businesses. Find out more at: https://lnkd.in/e8a_CPzz #CloseBrothers #AssetFinance #BritishBusinessBank #ENABLEGuarantee #SMEFinance

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Neo Banks Need Enterprise-Grade Compliance Now More Than Ever The recent £21 million FCA fine levied against Monzo underscores a growing concern across the digital banking sector: rapid growth without robust compliance is a dangerous combination. Monzo allowed customers to open accounts using addresses like 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace—clear signs of systemic gaps in onboarding and monitoring. And they’re not alone. Other fintechs, like Starling, have faced similar penalties due to inadequate financial crime controls. As neo banks and fintech challengers continue to scale, they must move beyond legacy or improvised compliance tools. The financial crime landscape is evolving—so too must the solutions. This is where Pelican comes in. Global institutions, including one of the largest tier one banks in Europe, already trust Pelican’s AI-powered compliance and payments platform. Its enterprise-grade solutions offer: ▪️ Real-time sanctions screening with dramatically lower false positives ▪️ Intelligent onboarding and address verification using Natural Language Processing ▪️ Modular architecture that integrates seamlessly with existing systems ▪️ Automated transaction monitoring to detect anomalies and high-risk behaviours For neo banks and fintechs looking to grow responsibly, Pelican delivers the control, scalability, and auditability regulators demand—without slowing down innovation. Compliance isn’t just a checkbox. It’s a foundation. Get it right from the start. www.pelican.ai

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