Digital bank Monzo has appointed Diana Layfield, a former senior executive at Google and Standard Chartered, as its new chief executive as it prepares for a landmark stock market listing expected to value the business at up to £10bn.
Layfield will replace TS Anil, who has led Monzo for the past five years. The change comes as the online lender steps up its plans to go public, with the company’s board and investors said to favour a London listing, though New York is also being considered.
Monzo has been working with Morgan Stanley on a series of meetings with potential investors in recent months as part of the early groundwork for an IPO.
Rapid rise of a digital bank
Founded in 2015, Monzo has grown from a niche app for early tech adopters into one of the UK’s largest banks, with over 11 million retail customers and around 600,000 business accounts. It now ranks as the seventh-biggest bank in Britain by customer numbers.
The London-based lender has become profitable and significantly expanded its services — offering savings and investment products, pensions, and accounts for under-16s — while maintaining its reputation for user-friendly digital banking.
An IPO would mark a major milestone in Monzo’s journey and could value the company between £6bn and £10bn, up from a £4.1bn valuation last year when it raised more than £500m from investors led by Capital G, the investment arm of Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
Preparing for global growth
Layfield, who previously ran Google’s operations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is expected to bring international and technology expertise as Monzo looks to expand overseas. The company has explored potential acquisitions in the US and Europe and recently set up a new holding structure to support its global ambitions.
Monzo’s chair, Gary Hoffman — best known for steering Northern Rock through nationalisation after the 2008 financial crisis — has helped oversee the bank’s transformation from a fast-growing startup to a stable financial institution.
The new leadership marks a fresh chapter for the bank, which has rebounded strongly from a difficult period in 2020, when regulators investigated potential anti-money laundering breaches. Since then, it has restructured its operations and strengthened governance as it eyes long-term, sustainable growth.
Monzo’s backers include global investors such as Tencent, Accel, General Catalyst, Passion Capital, Hedosophia, StepStone Group, and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.
The company declined to comment on the leadership changes or the timing of its stock market debut.
