Monzo reportedly started to apply for a U.S. banking license in April last year as part of an effort to expand its userbase, but the talks with the OCC do not appear to have gone well. “Following recent engagement with the OCC, we’ve decided to withdraw our banking license application for our U.S. start-up,” the Monzo spokesperson said in a statement. “While this isn’t the outcome we initially set out to achieve, this allows us to build and scale our early-stage product offer in the U.S. through existing partners and invest further in the U.K. We have big ambitions for Monzo U.S. There are many routes to market we’re exploring that have been successful for other market entrants who are now major players.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/04/monzo-withdraws-us-banking-license-application.html