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I can‘t defend most banks but (I live in the in UK and) I’ve switch to Monzo who was explicitly built with that in mind: they manage to automate a lot of intera

by bertil 8y ago

I can‘t defend most banks but (I live in the in UK and) I’ve switch to Monzo who was explicitly built with that in mind: they manage to automate a lot of interactions, save on agencies, etc. explicitly to be able to invest more on services. This allows them to offer a visibly far better service. Thanks to automation, they have been profitable for a couple of months now (with a million customers) and have now switched on growth mechanisms. Disclosure: I know several people working there but I have never used my contacts for preferential customer service, nor would I expect that the service could be better than the standard one. Generally, I think that the incredible gains from automation are possible but require a lot of internal changes to make sense; changes that most companies do not have the leadership to conduct. This s why new actors often take advantage of those. I suspect that’s why Google replaced Encyclopedia Brittanica and countless more examples.

guitarbill 8y ago
Monzo is great, but it's easy for them with their use-case. How do you pay in cash? How do you order foreign currency? I'm glad somebody is eating UK banks' lunches though, since they're universally awful.
- matthewmacleod 8y ago
  How do you pay in cash? They've added (this week) the ability to pay in small amounts of cash through the Paypoint network (https://monzo.com/blog/2018/11/21/deposit-cash/ https://monzo.com/blog/2018/11/21/deposit-cash/) and I believe they'll eventually add support for paying in thorough Post Office branches too. It's still pretty limited, but it's a start! How do you order foreign currency? Honestly I had no idea people even used their bank to do this!
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    How do you order foreign currency? Honestly I had no idea people even used their bank to do this! I do this all the time. Citibank has a service called World Wallet where you call a number, and they'll FedEx you whatever currency you want anywhere in the world in 24-48 hours. I used to just use the American Express offices when I traveled, but as my travel got more interesting, AmEx outlets became less common. Also, AmEx started only stocking popular currencies, while the Citi service delivers pretty much any currency that's legal where you are.
    - icebraining 8y ago
      Call a number and get a FedEx? That's so impersonal. Yes, I'm being facetious, sorry. But it's a good example of how automation enabled more than just cost-cutting.
- bertil 8y ago
  > How do you pay in cash? I don’t have that use case but yes, they have announced a service to do that. > How do you order foreign currency? I would typically use my card at ATMs in a foreign country (which comes with a small fee above a certain amount). In practice, I almost always need cash abroad for reasons covered by work-related expenses, and I keep those transactions on my Revolut account.

by bertil 8y ago

guitarbill 8y ago

Monzo is great, but it's easy for them with their use-case. How do you pay in cash? How do you order foreign currency? I'm glad somebody is eating UK banks' lunches though, since they're universally awful.

matthewmacleod 8y ago
How do you pay in cash? They've added (this week) the ability to pay in small amounts of cash through the Paypoint network (https://monzo.com/blog/2018/11/21/deposit-cash/ https://monzo.com/blog/2018/11/21/deposit-cash/) and I believe they'll eventually add support for paying in thorough Post Office branches too. It's still pretty limited, but it's a start! How do you order foreign currency? Honestly I had no idea people even used their bank to do this!
- reaperducer 8y ago
  How do you order foreign currency? Honestly I had no idea people even used their bank to do this! I do this all the time. Citibank has a service called World Wallet where you call a number, and they'll FedEx you whatever currency you want anywhere in the world in 24-48 hours. I used to just use the American Express offices when I traveled, but as my travel got more interesting, AmEx outlets became less common. Also, AmEx started only stocking popular currencies, while the Citi service delivers pretty much any currency that's legal where you are.
  - icebraining 8y ago
    Call a number and get a FedEx? That's so impersonal. Yes, I'm being facetious, sorry. But it's a good example of how automation enabled more than just cost-cutting.
bertil 8y ago
> How do you pay in cash? I don’t have that use case but yes, they have announced a service to do that. > How do you order foreign currency? I would typically use my card at ATMs in a foreign country (which comes with a small fee above a certain amount). In practice, I almost always need cash abroad for reasons covered by work-related expenses, and I keep those transactions on my Revolut account.