UK payments firm Pockit in talks to buy Monese consumer arm, sources say

By Amy-Jo Crowley

LONDON (Reuters) - British payments technology company Pockit is in talks to take control of UK challenger bank Monese’s consumer arm, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Under the proposed deal Pockit, which is backed by Telegram, Bolt, and Spotify, will buy Monese for a nominal sum and inject capital into its direct-to-consumer arm to boost regulatory capital and help finance an integration with Pockit, one of the people said. The talks are advanced but not finalised and may still fall apart, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Monese declined to comment. A representative for Pockit didn't respond to a request for comment.

London-headquartered Monese, which has been backed by HSBC and was reportedly worth more than 1 billion pounds ($1.31 billion) in early 2020, in May split the business into two standalone entities: its consumer banking arm Monese, and its corporate business, called XYB.