UK challenger Monument partners with Mambu, AWS & Accenture
Monument, a UK challenger bank looking to tap Britain’s mass affluent population, has revealed its build partners – including Mambu, AWS and Salesforce.
The start-up says its “lego-like” platform rests on a cloud-based microservices architecture.
“We have been working closely with our chosen providers for some months now,” says chief operating officer, Steve Britain.
“Monument concluded that no appropriate single solution existed”
“Much of the work has been done by a highly distributed team because of COVID-19.”
Monument’s tech stack
Mambu makes up Monument’s central core banking engine. Whilst Salesforce form its customer relationship management (CRM) system, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) underpins its cloud services.
The fintech is also working with Indian tech firm Persistent Systems and Accenture. Whilst the former will help Monument build an integrate its platform – made up of 18 providers, the latter will help the fintech build its mobile app and website.
“Having assessed the market over many months, Monument concluded that no appropriate single solution existed,” the firm said in a statement.
Regulatory green light
The technology contracts were signed following the approval of Monument’s authorisation with restriction (AWR) banking licence.
The fintech landed the licence from UK regulators last month, just 18 months after it submitting the application.
The early authorisation means Monument can do a limited amount of business until it’s fully operational. The partial licence allows Monument to conserve capital it would have otherwise spent on a full licence.
Instead, it can divert these reserves – which stand at £20 million from previous funding rounds – to its technology partners for the platform build set to go live in early 2021.
The 5.25%
Monument describes its target audience as “busy professionals, doctors, lawyers, accountants, entrepreneurs and investors”.
It claims this bucket of consumers makes up 3.5 million – that’s 5.25% – of the UK’s total population.
Of the £3.5 trillion in wealth Monument claims is getting overlooked, it believes at least £200 billion of this is sitting there in liquid savings.
Co-operative Bank’s former chief executive, Niall Brooker, chairs Monument. Mintoo Bhandari, a former managing director at Apollo Global Management, is leading the venture alongside Brooker.
The start-up evolved out of a belief that the mass affluent have gone “largely unaddressed by the [UK’s] challenger bank boom”.
As well as filling this gap in the market, Monument will also be taking on long-established names which have served the wealthy. Among them are Coutts, Hampden & Co, Weatherbys and C Hoare & Co.
Monument’s offering
Monument claims it will be “the only bank” to offer clients loans of up to £2 million through an entirely digital lending journey.
It also promises “top quartile savings rates”, which will be influenced by reward schemes.
If a saver deposits money for a fixed term, they will get a better rate than a new customer, for example. And if a borrower renews their loan, they will also get a favourable rate.
“Increasingly, private banking [focuses] on the ultra-high net worth and lags when it comes to embracing modern technology,” says Bhandari. “Premier banking really only exists in name only.”
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