British online bank Monzo has announced that its profit quadrupled last year, with a growing loan book boosting revenue, as the company moves closer to a potential stock market debut.
The bank reported a pre-tax profit of £60.4 million for the year ending in March, up from £15.4 million recorded 13 months earlier. Revenue jumped from £880 million to £1.2 billion.
The decade-old firm lent £1.9 billion to customers—36% more than the previous year.
“We’ve grown from a startup challenging the status quo to a household name, a leading brand, and the UK’s 7th largest bank by customer numbers,” said Chief Executive TS Anil.
According to Anil, Monzo now has 12 million customers—2.4 million more than the previous year—and customer deposits rose by 48% to £16.6 billion.
One-third of Monzo’s customers now use it as their primary bank. The company has also introduced individual savings accounts (ISAs) to encourage customers to deposit more funds.
News reports indicate the company is working with Morgan Stanley to arrange meetings with potential investors for an initial public offering (IPO), which could take place in the first half of next year.
Anil noted that Monzo would “make a good public company one day”, but said it was too early to share details about the IPO.
While the majority of Monzo’s customers are based in the UK, the bank is planning to expand into the US. It recently appointed Conor Walsh, a former executive at Block’s Cash App, to lead its US operations.
Monzo also opened an office in Dublin last year, marking its formal entry into the European market.
Last year, the company allowed employees to sell some of their shares in a secondary share sale, which valued the firm at US$5.9 billion.
A one-time cost of £53.4 million was booked in the bank’s latest accounts for the share sale. Investors in the round included CapitalG, Alphabet’s independent growth fund, and Hedosophia, a London-based venture capital firm, both of which joined as new backers.
