1104. News: Nubank rules out Monzo takeover, Checkout.com opens the books, and Ramp hits Broadway

Benjamin Ensor (0:04)

This is Fintech Insider News. This week, Nubank considers buying Monzo, checkout.com publishes record revenues, and Ramp made a musical. But was it any good?

We'll be tackling all of this and more on today's news show.

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Benjamin Ensor (1:01)

Hello and welcome to Episode 1104 of Fintech Insider News, brought to you by 11FS, the six-time consultancy of the year that works with financial providers, big and small, to build the next generation of financial services. I'm Benjamin Ensor, Director of Research and Strategy at 11FS.

Now, to help me unpack the biggest and most interesting stories from fintech and financial services this week, I'm joined by a brilliant panel of three guests. First of all, we have a big welcome back to the podcast for Rory O'Neill, Chief Marketing Officer at checkout.com. Welcome back to the show, Rory. You've got some big news that we'll be getting to shortly, but in the meantime, could you remind our listeners a little bit about you and a little bit about checkout.com?

Rory O'Neill (1:46)

Hi, Benjamin.

I'm delighted to be back on the show. Thank you for having me. I'm the Chief Marketing Officer at Checkout. We're a digital payments business, very proudly headquartered here in London, but operating around the world. We process payments for some of the world's biggest digital brands, whether that be ASOS, eBay, Spotify, and the like. But delighted to be back on the show. Thank you for having us.

Benjamin Ensor (2:07)

Welcome back.

We also have a big welcome back to the show for Sam Maule. Very well known to some of our longer standing listeners, head of business development at Moov. It's always great to chat to you, Sam. Can you remind our newer listeners or let our newer listeners know a little bit about you and a little bit about Moov?

Sam Maule (2:27)

I'm old. I'm very tired.

Moov is not old or very tired. Again, a money orchestration company based in the US. We love checkout.com, by the way. It is always good to be back on the podcast. Miss you all.

Benjamin Ensor (2:43)

We do too.

We are delighted to have Irina Chuchkina of Fintech Go-to-Markets Advisor, GTM Advisor. Welcome back to the podcast. You've got a new role since you were last on the podcast. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about what you're up to?

Irina Chuchkina (2:58)

Yes, of course. Thank you, Benjamin. It's amazing to be back. Yes, after about 20 years within the industry, in Asia, in Europe with companies such as Visa and Grab.

I'm now a free agent, GTM Advisor. It doesn't mean that I'm just sitting around doing nothing. I have a few jobs. I have a portfolio of advisory roles within stablecoin company community as well as digital banking community. So I spend a lot of time with the investor community as well. So this is, I guess, my new current title before I commit back to doing something full time.

Benjamin Ensor (3:34)

Fantastic. Well, welcome. Okay. Well, let's jump into the news. So this story first broke on Sunday when Sky News reported that Nubank was in talks with Monzo. But by the time we're recording, Nubank has come out to say it's not pursuing a Monzo takeover after all, after its shares plunged. So a few days after reports came out that Nubank was in talks to buy Monzo for as much as 10 billion pounds, which sent Fintech social media into a bit of a frenzy. Nubank has now come out and said it is not pursuing a transaction with the UK digital bank after all. The Brazilian group said in a statement that it regularly looks at partnerships, investments and acquisitions, but remains focused on Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, as well as building its presence in the US. Meanwhile, Revolut has just received approval to acquire Banco Setelem in Argentina, giving it a foothold in one of Latin America's biggest markets. So while Nubank has ruled out a move for Monzo, the world's largest digital banks are increasingly pushing into each other's regions.

So, there's a lot to unpack here.

I think there's a super interesting story. Irina, maybe I'll come to you first. Were you surprised when you heard that Nubank might be thinking about buying Monzo? I mean, excited, but were you surprised? What did you think of it?