The announcement means that the challenger bank can now begin the process of offering current accounts to existing users.

On 11th August 2016, Monzo (then known as Mondo) received a restricted banking licence from the PRA and FCA, which meant the bank had entered the ‘mobilisation’ phase where it would be working with the regulators to get its restrictions lifted in order to launch full current accounts.

Tom Blomfield, CEO of Monzo, said that he was delighted to announce that its banking restrictions had been lifted and it was now a fully authorised bank.

“This is the result of an unbelievable amount of effort from the whole team here at Monzo, who I can’t thank enough for the time and energy they’ve poured in.”

Tom revealed that Monzo could begin offering current accounts to users, but warned that the process would take place quite slowly to ensure it could provide the best possible experience for users.

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“We’re currently running live bank accounts with a small group of users, and we’ll slowly be expanding that group over the coming months to put our banking system through its paces and ensure everything works as expected.

“As we get used to running current accounts day to day, we’ll look to offer accounts to larger numbers of people over the summer, including groups like our recent investors and pre-registrants from the crowdfunding.”

Tom added that the process of offering current accounts to existing users would take several months, but told customers that existing cards would continue to work as normal and that the challenger bank would be in contact once it was ready to offer a current account.

The news comes after Monzo agreed a £19.5m investment round as well as a £2.5m crowdfunding round through Crowdcube.

“I’d like to finish by thanking the whole team here at Monzo (pictured above) and our amazing community of users and investors who’ve supported us along the way,” Tom concluded.

“You have helped make Monzo what it is today.”