What Does it Take to be a Top Neobank?

In the rapidly evolving world of global finance, the neobanking sector has seen its fair share of movement, transforming from a relatively small and niche area to a financial ‘leg’ that most consumers now stand firmly on. 

While the early 2020s were defined by a race for user acquisition, the current era sees names like Monzo, Revolut and Nubank throwing their hats into the ring of institutional banking.

The common thread has shifted from one of disruption towards market dominance through regulatory legitimacy, geographic spread and high-tech efficiency. However, for a neobank to truly compete with just one of the big four brick-and-mortar giants, it must shed its status as ‘just’ a digital wallet.

Monzo recently achieved this by securing a full European banking licence from the Central Bank of Ireland and the European Central Bank. This effectively bypasses the post-Brexit hurdles that have hampered UK-based fintechs, allowing the bank to passport its services across the European Union from its new Dublin headquarters.

The popular neobank now has: 

• Full banking authorisation in the UK and EU
• A target of 450 million potential European customers
• A core advantage: Direct access to the Eurozone deposit and lending markets.

Similarly, Brazil’s Nubank has secured conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national bank in the United States. Known as Nubank, N.A., the new entity signals a bold transition from its Latin American roots to operating in the world’s largest economy.

“This approval is an opportunity to prove our thesis that a digital-first model is the future of financial services globally,” says David Vélez, Founder and CEO of Nu Holdings.

Scaling through talent and tech

While some firms are tightening their belts, Revolut is doubling down on its Asian anchor in Singapore. The firm plans to triple its Singaporean workforce over the next three years, increasing headcount to more than 300 employees to support regional product innovation.

This expansion is heavily backed by EDBI, the investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, cementing the city-state as the hub for Revolut’s foray into the wider Asia-Pacific market.

However, human talent is only half of the scaling equation. Aside from the established benefits of being a digital bank such as easier financial transactions, another advantage is the easy integration of advancing technology such as AI. 

To manage a customer base that now exceeds 40 million, Revolut has partnered with ElevenLabs to deploy AI-driven voice agents for its customer service.

The partnership has so far supported: 

• Increased performance: handling live calls with 99.7% success rates
• Efficiency: resolving customer tickets in under five minutes, an eightfold improvement
• Versatility: offering 24/7 support in over 30 languages.

Mati Staniszewski, Co-Founder of ElevenLabs says: “Revolut tested every provider and chose ElevenLabs for voice quality, latency, security, and partnership. 

“Operating across nearly 40 markets, they needed complexity and speed without sacrificing quality. Their team is world-class and moves fast - so it was even more for our Forward Deployed Engineers to be embedded with them for months, building and iterating together to get this right.”

Vertical integration and the mortgage frontier

The ultimate goal for these neobanks is to become a financial super-app – one that manages every penny a customer earns while supporting how to spend it. Monzo has taken a significant leap in this direction by announcing its plan to acquire digital mortgage broker Habito.

This acquisition, expected to close in Spring 2026, will make Monzo the first UK digital bank to offer an end-to-end mortgage broking experience within its app. By integrating Habito’s technology, Monzo aims to simplify one of the most cumbersome pain points in a customer’s financial life.

Kunal Malani, Monzo’s Chief Banking Officer, explains that this is a “huge step” in making money work for everyone by bringing transparency to the home-buying process.

With Monzo’s revenue rising 48% to US$1.52bn (equivalent to £1.2bn) in the latest fiscal year, the capital is clearly there to fund such ambitious vertical integrations.

Future implications and the path to IPO

This kind of growth and expansion is driven by a clear strategy centred around securing the licence, building the infrastructure then owning the high-value transactions like mortgages and business lending.

Nubank, already serving 127 million customers and generating record quarterly revenue of US$4.2bn, is now focusing on its “bank organisation phase” in the US. The firm expects to fully capitalise Nubank SA, its first US institution, within 12 months, with a formal launch projected for 2027.

Meanwhile, Revolut’s valuation has climbed to US$75bn, making it one of the most valuable private tech companies in the world.

The integration of AI voice technology and the tripling of the Singaporean hub are not just operational upgrades, but the final polish on a business model designed for a blockbuster public listing.

As these firms continue to iterate, the line between a global financial services company and a successful neobank has all but disappeared.