Monzo Digital Banking
Monzo
Monzo is a digital bank headquartered in Dublin and London. Founded in 2015 by Tom Blomfield, Gary Dolman, Jason Bates, Jonas Huckestein and Paul Rippon, Monzo has grown to become one of the largest neobanks in Europe. In late 2024, as part of a secondary share sale, the bank was valued at $5.9 billion (€5.13bn).
Reading time: 23 min
Last updated: April 1, 2026
Table of Contents:
Written by:
Dan Malone
At a Glance:
The newest neobank in the Irish market, regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Equipped with an Irish IBAN, so no need to worry about IBAN discrimination.
The bank is best known for its low fees, budgeting tools and high security.
Monzo is our pick for best overall free current account in Ireland in 2026.
Is Monzo Safe for Irish Customers in 2026?
Monzo is a fully regulated Irish bank making it perfectly safe for use. In late 2025, as part of its European expansion, Monzo Bank Europe DAC secured a banking license from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), making it the first digital bank to be fully authorised and regulated in Ireland.
This stamp of approval will allow Monzo to serve personal and business customers across the European Union. Dublin was chosen as the European headquarters for the bank. Monzo already holds the following accolades from its UK operations:
Over 12 million personal users.
£16.6bn (€19.26bn) in customer deposits.
#1 most downloaded UK banking app.
4.6 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot.
Winner of Best Banking App, Best British Bank and Best Children’s Financial Provider by Smart Money People.
As an Irish regulated bank, deposits held with Monzo are fully protected and guaranteed by the Irish State up to €100,000 per depositor.
How Secure Is Monzo?
| Security Feature | Available on Monzo? |
|---|---|
| Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) | Yes |
| Biometric Login | Yes |
| Freeze Card | Yes |
| Undo Payments | Yes |
| Known Locations | Yes |
| Secret QR Code | Yes |
| Trusted Contacts | Yes |
| Monzo Call Status | Yes |
| Single Device Session (iOS/Android) | Yes |
Monzo requires customers to verify their mobile device. The account then becomes linked to the user's mobile number. For security reasons, you can only be logged into Monzo on one iOS and one Android device at the same time. When logging in from a new device, Monzo will send a link to your registered email address. You’ll be required to complete biometric verification to prove that it’s really you logging in. If you lose your phone, you can use an emergency web version of Monzo to remotely log out of your mobile device, view account activity and freeze your card.
The app supports biometric logins and transaction approvals, via FaceID and TouchID, for extra security. Within the ‘Privacy & Security’ section of the app, Irish customers can access additional security features including known locations, a secret QR code and trusted contacts. If you open your Monzo app while you’re on a phone call, Monzo will display a banner which says ‘We’re not calling you’ to help prevent successful scam calls.
Customer Support
Monzo uses 24/7 AI chat support as a first line of defense for customer queries. However, you can choose to speak with a real person at any time by requesting human support. Media can be shared within the chat to help explain more complex queries. On top of this, Monzo has a very extensive Help Centre in-app which covers many of the most common queries.
Monzo can also be contacted via:
- Email at help@monzo.com
- Local Phone at 1800-849-291
- International Phone at +35312337650
- Letter at Monzo, Unit 1, Floor 4, One Central Plaza, Dame Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
How To Open A Monzo Account (Est. Time: 5 Minutes)
Opening an account with Monzo is a very straightforward process. After downloading the mobile app, you’ll need to confirm:
- 1
Your email, name, address, mobile number, date of birth and country of residence.
- 2
Your employment status, the industry that you work in and your job title.
- 3
Your pre-tax income, housing status and how many people rely on you financially.
- 4
What you’ll use Monzo for, where your first payment will come from and how much it’ll be for.
Once you’ve provided Monzo with the required information you’ll then need to:
Take a photo of your passport, driving licence or national identity card.
Record a short video of yourself saying a prompted phrase such as “My name is Dan Malone and I want a Monzo account”.
Confirm whether you’re tax resident in any country other than Ireland.
Confirm your Personal Public Service Number (PPSN).
Agree to the Monzo Terms & Conditions.
When your account is setup, Monzo will then ask you to confirm some final details:
Your new card and a custom 4-digit PIN. Your PIN can’t be a number that’s easy to guess, such as your birthday.
Whether you want to enable biometrics (i.e. Face ID) for unlocking the app and authorising payments. This is recommended for better security.
The main reason you’re signing up for Monzo.
Once that’s complete you’ll be given your new Irish IBAN and BIC as well as confirmation that your deposits are protected up to €100,000 under the Irish Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
Monzo Bank Account Features
Unlike other neobanks, Monzo Ireland only offers a single free plan to its customers. Here is a summary of the key features of this plan:
| Monzo | |
|---|---|
| Pricing & Accounts | |
| Price per month | €0.00 |
| Child Accounts (Under 16s) | Yes |
| Joint Account | Yes |
| Irish IBAN | Yes |
| Customer Support | Chat, Email & Phone Support |
| Cards | |
| Physical Card | Yes - Free (€5 replacement fee for lost cards, €35 if outside Ireland) |
| Virtual Cards | Yes - Max 5 active. Create 9 per month or 100 per year |
| Funds Movement | |
| Bank Transfer Top Up | Yes - Unlimited |
| Apple Pay/Google Pay/Card Top Up | Yes - €5,000 30 Day Limit |
| Global ATM Withdrawals | €300 per month fee-free globally, 2.5% per withdrawal thereafter (minimum fee €1) |
| Payments | |
| Instant Transfer to Another Monzo | Yes |
| Local Bank Transfers | Yes |
| SEPA Bank Transfers | Yes |
| Direct Debit | Yes |
| Instant Payments | Yes |
| Scheduled Payments (Standing Orders) | Yes |
| Payment Requests | Yes |
| Split Payments | Yes |
| Apple Pay/Google Pay | Yes |
| Budgeting & Saving | |
| Analytics | Yes |
| Budgeting | Yes |
| Round Up | Yes |
| Pots | Yes |
| Recurring Transfers | Yes |
| Interest (Savings Pot) | 1.60% |
| Foreign Currency & Travel | |
| 24/7 Worldwide Card Payments (Any Currency) | Yes - Mastercard Exchange Rate |
| International Bank Transfers (Non-Euro) | Yes - Fixed + Variable Charge per Currency |
Pots
Pots are Monzo’s take on sub-accounts. Each Pot that you create can be thought of as an extra bank account that exists within your main Monzo account. On the ‘Home’ tab, navigate to ‘Pots’ and select ‘Create Pot’. You can create up to 20 pots. There are two types of Pots on Monzo:
When you create a Regular Pot, you’ll be able to give your pot a name. You can then add money to the pot from your main account or from another pot. By clicking ‘Scheduled Payments’, you can instruct Monzo to withdraw from or fund your pot on a specific date. The scheduled payment can be set to recur daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, every two weeks, every four weeks or on the last day of the month. You can also set an end date for repeating transfers.
Using the scheduling feature, you could automatically fund all of your Monzo pots on payday as soon as your salary hits your main account. This allows you to put your budgeting on auto-pilot while also ensuring that all of your pots are sufficiently funded for upcoming expenses such as rent, utilities or subscriptions.
It’s possible to pay direct debits and standing orders directly from a specific pot, rather than your main account. This is useful for pots that you create for rent, mortgage payments or utility bills. Once the direct debit or standing order has been set up, go to the ‘Payments’ tab, hit ‘Scheduled’, select the upcoming payment and then “Set Payment from a Pot”. Simply choose the pot that you want the money to come from and you’re all set. If you don’t have enough money in the pot when the payment falls due, Monzo will take the money from your main account.
When you create a pot, Monzo will ask you whether you want to create a virtual card for that pot. If you do, the card will be named and linked to your pot automatically. As an example, when you create your groceries pot, you could also create a dedicated grocery virtual card linked to that pot. Then, when you use the card to pay for your weekly shop, the money will come out of your groceries pot, not your main account. This allows you to better stick to your budget for groceries and easily view all related transactions in one place.
Key Insight: Unlike with direct debits and standing orders, if your pot doesn’t have enough money to process a transaction made with a linked card, Monzo will not take the money from your main account and the transaction will fail.
Within your pot, you’ll be able to:
- View scheduled payments
- View spending history
- Manage linked cards
- Make deposits and withdrawals
- View pot-specific documents
- Archive the pot
You can edit your pot by hitting the cog wheel. Here, you can set a budget for the pot, activate round up transactions or lock the pot.
The other type of pot on Monzo is a Savings Pot. Each Savings Pot can be thought of as an instant access savings account. Monzo pays a 1.60% variable interest rate on money held in a Savings Pot. Interest is paid monthly. Monzo will show you how much interest you’ve earned this month, this tax year and how much you’ve earned total.
When you create a Savings Pot, you have the option to ‘Build A Safety Net’. This is a way for you to build an emergency fund in Monzo. By default, the app suggests one month of essential expenses, but you can save more if you wish. You can enter the savings goal manually or use Monzo’s analytics to determine how much you should save.
You then tell Monzo how much you plan to deposit each month and the app will tell you how long it will take to reach your savings goal. Deposits to your Savings Pot can be automated to be made weekly, every two weeks, every month or every year. The maximum amount that can be held in a Savings Pot is €100,000.
If you don’t want to build an emergency fund, simply click ‘Instant Access’ when first creating the pot. Monzo allows you to name your pot and give it an icon, which can be handy if you plan on having multiple Savings Pots for different events i.e. general savings, a holiday, a house deposit or a new car. You can also set a savings goal, activate round-up or lock your pot until a specified date. When you lock a pot, you’re disabling withdrawals until a date of your choice. A pot can be unlocked at any time by closing the pot.
Round Up
Round Up can be enabled on any pot by clicking the cog wheel and turning on ‘Round Up Payments’. When you enable Round Up, Monzo will round up your payments to the nearest euro and put the spare change into a pot of your choice. Round Up can only be enabled on one pot at a time. This feature is most commonly used for saving as you spend, so it can make sense to enable it on your Savings Pot. You can choose a multiplier of 1x, 2x, 5x or 10x. This is best explained with an example.
Let’s say you purchase a coffee for €3.80. The nearest euro is €4 which will create spare change of €0.20. If the multiplier is set to 1x, Monzo will save €0.20 into your chosen pot and the cost of the coffee will be €4. However, if the multiplier is set to 10x, Monzo will save €2 (i.e. €0.20 x 10) into your chosen pot and the cost of the coffee will be €5.80.
Cards
On the ‘Home’ tab, scroll down to ‘Cards’ and click the three dots. From here, you can ‘Create Virtual Cards’, view ‘Inactive Cards’ and ‘Virtual Card Limits’. When creating a virtual card, Monzo allows you to set a colour and icon for your card as well as the card name. If you click ‘Spend from Personal Account’ you’ll be able to specify whether you want the card to pull money from your main account or a specific pot. If a virtual card isn’t linked to a pot, Monzo will take the money you spend from your main account balance.
By toggling on ‘Auto Delete Card’, you can instruct Monzo to delete the virtual card on a specific date. This can be useful if you plan on using your card for online shopping, especially on websites with questionable security. By auto-deleting your card after a period of time, you can take comfort in knowing that any stored card details would be useless to a hacker. Auto-delete shouldn’t be enabled on virtual cards that are used for recurring payments with a minimum contractual term such as a gym membership.
Once your virtual card has been created, you can add it to your digital wallet by clicking ‘Add to Apple/Google Wallet’. You can have a total of 5 virtual cards active with Monzo at any time. Up to 9 virtual cards can be created each month with a yearly maximum of 100 virtual cards. By clicking any card, you can view your card details and freeze the card.
Key Insight: A virtual card is just like a physical card, with a unique card number, CVC and expiry date that you can use to pay for goods and services from your account. Monzo virtual cards can be created and deleted instantly. This means you can delete your card after an online purchase to make your details useless to a potential scammer.
Monzo has daily limits for card transactions. These are cumulative limits, meaning your total spending across physical and virtual cards are aggregated when determining how much you have left to spend:
- Daily Card Transactions: €10,000 limit
- Daily ATM Withdrawals: €400 limit
The usual PSD2 limits for contactless transactions apply, being €50 for a single contactless transaction, €150 for cumulative transactions below €50 or more than five contactless transactions where no single transaction exceeds €50 or the cumulative total of €150. These limits don’t apply to contactless transactions executed with your digital wallet i.e. Apple Pay or Google Pay. To learn more about banking regulations you can check out our guide here.
Key Insight: If you need to make a large payment or ATM withdrawal, it’s possible to request a temporary limit increase. To do this, click your physical Monzo card, hit ‘Limits’ and then ‘Request a Temporary Limit Increase’. You’ll need to verify your identity and provide Monzo with proof of the upcoming transaction. The process usually takes less than 3 minutes and can be done up to a month in advance, often resulting in same-day approval.
One of the most attractive features of Monzo is free worldwide card payments in any currency. Monzo uses the Mastercard Exchange Rate for foreign card payments or ATM withdrawals without any additional fees or markups. That means you can bring your Monzo card anywhere in the world and transact using euros for free. The Mastercard rates as well as the European Central Bank (ECB) reference rates are available on Monzo’s website.
Payments
In the ‘Payments’ tab, you can choose to:
- Pay Money: Using bank transfer or contacts on Monzo
- Request Money: Using contacts on Monzo, QR code or a payment link
- Move Money: Between your main account and your pots
Monzo will need access to your contacts in order to pay and request money to/from other Monzo users. When using a QR code or a link to request money, you can specify the requested amount or leave it up to the person paying. The payer doesn’t need to be a Monzo customer to pay you via QR code or link and you don’t need to share your bank details with them.
Key Insight: You can request a maximum of €1,000 per month from non-Monzo users using a QR code or payment link. This is referred to as your ‘Monzo.me’ limit.
Monzo allows you to split bills with anyone, regardless of whether or not they’re a Monzo user. Select any payment you’ve made using Monzo and click ‘Split This Bill’. You can choose to split with people outside of Monzo, your Monzo contacts or a combination of both. You then tell Monzo how the bill should be split. Once you’ve clicked ‘Request Money’, you’ll see the split appear under ‘Bill Splitting’ within the selected transaction. Simply select ‘Share Request Link’ to send the payment request to your friends via WhatsApp, email or any other method that you like. The bill split can be deleted at any time by clicking ‘Edit’ and ‘Cancel Bill Split’. Payment requests to individuals outside of Monzo must be at least €1.
A Running Split is the best way to split ongoing expenses among a group of people. This could be rent and utilities for roommates or travel and daily expenses for a group holiday.
- To create a Running Split, in the ‘Payments’ tab, click ‘Split Payment’ and ‘Split and Track Ongoing Costs’. You can name your split so that it’s clear what it’s for. Monzo will let you add other users to your split directly from your contacts. If your friends aren’t on Monzo, you can share a link or QR code to your split after you’ve created it so they can join as guests.
- To add a payment to your split, simply select the transaction and click ‘Add to a Running Split’. Monzo will notify the split members that they now owe you money. You can also ‘Send a Reminder’ to split members to settle up their debt. If you owe money to another split member, you can settle some or all of it. Just click ‘Settle Up’ in the Running Split.
- For a recurring payment such as rent, after you’ve paid it once, select the transaction in Monzo and set it as ‘Repeating Payment’. In the Running Split, click ‘Add Payments’ and then ‘Add Recurring Bills’. You’ll be able to add the rental payment to your split from here. You can also add one-off and custom payments. A split member won’t be able to leave the split until they’ve settled what they owe.
Trends
With Monzo Trends, you can set spending targets and obtain detailed analytics. Within the ‘Target’ tab, you can tell Monzo which Accounts, Pots and spending categories should be included in your spending target. By default, Monzo will always exclude transactions relating to income, savings and transfers. You can choose which spending categories you wish to include or exclude from your total spending target.
Set an overall spending target for the period. Then, define specific targets for each spending category you've chosen. For example, you could have an overall target of €2,250, with specific targets of €1,200 for mortgage, €300 for bills, €350 for groceries, €100 for eating out, €100 for travel, and €200 for entertainment. You can select the date on which the target should reset, i.e. the 1st of the month.
Monzo will then show you how you’re progressing relative to your target. The blue line shows what you’ve got left to spend. If you’re in the yellow zone, you’re spending too quickly. If you spot a transaction that shouldn’t be counted towards your target, you can tap it and recategorise it to an excluded category. Monzo is able to categorise your spending by tracking the Merchant Category Code (MCC) attached to the transaction.
By clicking the ‘Spending’ tab, you can get detailed analytics around your spending. Again, you can specify what should and shouldn’t be classified as spending. Your spending can be summarised by category or by merchant. It’s possible to create your own custom categories too. This can be useful for getting really granular with your budgeting. For example, you could create a dedicated category just for coffee to track that particular expense. To do this, click ‘Create Your Own Category’. You can give your custom category a name, icon and unique colour.
You can change a transaction's category by clicking on it. Then, select ‘Customise and Split into Multiple Categories’. A transaction can be assigned to more than one category. You can add a note, tag or receipt to any transaction on Monzo if you need to. The ‘Balance’ tab shows you your current account balance and how it has progressed over time.
Security Features
Monzo offers a number of unique features that allows you to keep your account safe and secure at all times:
Undo Payments is a feature that gives you a short period of time to undo a bank transfer on Monzo if you make a mistake. To activate it, click your profile icon, go to ‘Settings’, ‘Privacy & Security’ and ‘Undo Payments’. You can set the allowed time to undo a transaction to 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds or 60 seconds. The feature only works when transferring money to another bank account or to another Monzo customer. It doesn’t work for scheduled payments or sending money to a pot.
It’s reported that £323 million in accidental transfers have been stopped using this feature since Monzo introduced it in 2025, with the largest reversal equalling £2.5 million. Over 6,300 mistaken payments are reversed every day according to Monzo.
Added Security is a suite of three additional security features that can be enabled for large transfers and withdrawals from savings. To activate it, click your profile icon, go to ‘Settings’, ‘Privacy & Security’ and ‘Added Security’. Monzo requires you to add two controls from the following list:
- Known Locations: This could be your home or place of work. When you’re there you can move money freely, but when you’re not, you’ll need to pass another test.
- Trusted Contacts: This could be someone you know on Monzo, like your partner. The contact will review the transaction and decide if it looks suspicious. They can’t block it, but they can force a second security check.
- Secret QR Code: This is a secret code that you scan with your phone. It will be sent to your verified email address for safekeeping. Scan it to make transfers or withdrawals above your daily allowance.
Once you’ve added two controls, Monzo will ask you to set a daily allowance for how much you can transfer from your account and withdraw from your Savings Pot each day. Anything over the allowance will trigger the security controls. Card transactions are not included in the daily allowances. For bank transfers, the minimum allowance is €100 while the maximum allowance is €10,000. For withdrawals from Savings Pots, the minimum allowance is €100 while the maximum allowance is €100,000.
Monzo has a ‘Gambling Block’ feature for anyone needing help with gambling. This feature stops any gambling transactions before they go through.
To enable it, on the ‘Home’ tab, click the three dots beneath your Monzo balance, hit ‘Manage Account’ and scroll down to ‘Gambling Block’. When setting up Gambling Block, you can choose to have a ‘cool down’ time from as short as 2 days to as long as 1 year. This is how long you’ll need to wait after turning Gambling Block off before being able to make a gambling transaction again. Take care in setting this as Monzo can’t speed up the cool down period once it's been set.
You can also choose to write yourself a reminder note that will appear if you attempt to turn Gambling Block off. Gambling Block is fully confidential and having it turned on will not affect your ability to get a mortgage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, Monzo automatically deducts DIRT from the interest that you earn with your Savings Pots. This tax is paid over to Revenue on your behalf.
Yes, a maximum of €10,000 can be sent to other bank accounts each day with Monzo. This also applies to transfers to other Monzo users, It’s possible to request a temporary limit increase in advance of a large transfer.
Yes, Monzo offers an emergency web login in the event that you lose your phone. This can be accessed by providing your verified email address. Using the web-app you’ll be able to remotely log out from Monzo on your phone, freeze your card and view limited account information.
Yes, as an Irish bank, Monzo is legally obligated to have a switching service that complies with the Central Bank of Ireland’s Switching Code. On the ‘Home’ tab, click the three dots beneath your Monzo balance and select ‘Switch to Monzo’.
On the ‘Payments’ tab, click ‘Pay Someone’ and select the payee. Enter the amount and reference for the transaction. Then, in the top right corner, click ‘Schedule’. You’ll be able to specify the start date, how often the payment should be made as well as the end date if required.
To set up a direct debit, simply give the merchant your Monzo account details including your full name, IBAN and BIC. These details can be found in-app by clicking the three dots beneath your Monzo balance and selecting ‘Share Account Details’. Your direct debit will appear within ‘Scheduled Payments’ once the merchant has sent the request to Monzo.
To set up a joint account with Monzo, simply click the ‘+’ icon in the top right corner of the app and select ‘Apply for Joint Account’. Both individuals need to have a personal Monzo account before opening a joint account.
To set up a children’s account with Monzo, simply click the ‘+’ icon in the top right corner of the app and select ‘Monzo for Under 16s’.
Locate and select the subscription payment in your transactions. Make sure that ‘Repeating Payment’ has been toggled on. Once it has, the payment will appear in your scheduled payments allowing for better budgeting and analytics.
Yes, select the three dots beside the payee and click ‘Add to Favourites’. This will allow you to save time when frequently paying the same payee.
On the ‘Home’ tab, click the three dots underneath your Monzo balance and select ‘Bank Statements’.
To view upcoming direct debits, standing orders and recurring subscriptions, when on the ‘Home’ tab, click the three dots underneath your Monzo balance and select ‘Scheduled Payments’.
Yes, scroll to the end of the top navigation bar and click ‘Edit’. You can choose which tabs are spotlighted and whether you want Spotlight to be active in the first place. If you deactivate Spotlight, you can reactivate it at any time by clicking your profile icon, ‘Customise’ and then ‘Spotlight’.
Yes, click your profile icon and select ‘Customise’. Under ‘Appearance’, you’ll be able to change the Monzo app icon, theme and wallpaper.
