Moate woman heads up Ireland launch of digital bank Monzo

A Moate woman with long-time service in the financial services industry has been appointed to oversee the day-to-day operations of digital bank Monzo in Ireland.

The British digital banking company launched last week with Elaine Deehan, in her role as Country Manager for Ireland, charged with overseeing the presence and growth of the financial services business.

It has been an "extremely busy" opening week for Monzo, Elaine told the Westmeath Independent stating that the company's digital banking app "welcomed 100,000 users" when it opened online on April 14.

"Since the gates opened to the Irish market last week we have had a great response from the public. The app is fully operational and it's great to see day-to-day transactions taking place in our user's accounts," Deehan said.

The former Carmelite College student joined the company in 2024 and played a focal role in Monzo achieving full Central Bank regulation in Ireland before it opened for custom last week.

Having traded in the UK for 11 years, the company felt the "time was right" to move into the Irish market, she explained.

"The company saw Ireland as being strategically well placed and we are closely aligned with UK regulatory practice," Deehan said.

Deehan said the Central Bank regulation of Monzo shows that customers can place their trust in the digital bank.

"A strong financial services regulator such as the Central Bank will always enable trust with customers. A Central Bank licence is not easy to obtain but we believed that it was necessary to have such regulation before we opened for business in Ireland," Deehan added.

Deehan commended the work of her fellow senior management team in advance of the digital bank's Irish market launch last week, one of whom is Athlone native Nicola O'Brien who serves the role of Chief Financial Officer of the company.

Deehan has worked in the financial services industry for two decades, serving roles in international banking before moving into the fintech (finance and technology) industry.

She lives in Maynooth with her husband Jake and three children, JJ (17), Anna (15) and Betsy (11).

"I have worked with a number of start-up and scale-up businesses building new projects and developing them to their fruition. I have a passion for solving customers' problems in a digital way," Deehan said.

It is this love for working in the sector that eventually brought the daughter of Mary and Kevin Deehan to her current role and she believes Monzo can have a prominent financial presence in the Irish market.

"We have our Central Bank regulation. That establishes a level of trust with the business. As part of this regulation our customers funds are guaranteed up to €100,000 under the Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS).

That's very important," Deehan added.

She also said that customers who sign up for a current account also get an Irish IBAN number and receive 24/7 support should they have any digital banking issues.

"Banking is no longer a 9-5 industry. Customers operate their accounts outside of these hours so it is important to have support readily available should the need arise," Deehan stated.

The app is "very convenient" to use and Deehan said Monzo are "always developing" industry focused features to ensure that "our customers' money is protected", reducing the risk of fraud impacting accounts.

Monzo provides free banking to its customers, the digital banking app offering customers the opportunity to open current, savings, small business and Under 16 accounts.

"Monzo has been providing free banking for its customers since we first launched in the UK in 2015 and we have no intention of applying hidden charges or maintenance fees on our Irish customers to use our service going forward. Customers also have instant access to our savings account which offers a 1.6% rate," Deehan said.

Chief amongst Deehan's aims in the coming six months is to "grow Monzo's presence in the Irish market".

"We have had significant growth in the UK market since 2015 and I am hoping that Monzo will make a similar impact here in Ireland.

"I am passionate about what is to come for Monzo on the Irish market.

The key is to listen to what our customers want from a financial services provider and support them along their journey," Deehan concluded.