Monzo CEO Passes Torch to Google Vet Diana Layfield

U.K. digital bank Monzo is getting a new chief executive from the ranks of Big Tech.

Diana Layfield, former general manager of search international and growth at Google, will become Monzo’s CEO in February,  the company’s current head said in a memo sent to staff Thursday (Oct. 30) and shared on LinkedIn.

Layfield replaces TS Anil, who is stepping down after almost six years. In the memo Anil said he and Monzo’s board had met with Layfield — who is also a former executive for Standard Chartered — in the process of finding a U.K. CEO to report to him, and was impressed by her resume and a “passion for Monzo and its future that matches mine.

“Through our conversations, it became clear to me that she’d be a fantastic leader who could drive the business at the global level, into this next chapter and beyond,” Anil wrote. “So while it wasn’t in my plan, I knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss for Monzo.”

Anil will shift into an advisory role at the company, the memo added. He joined Monzo in February 2020 from Visa, first leading the country’s U.S. operations before taking the top job.

“It’s always been my belief that great leaders make way for others — it’s something that’s been done before at Monzo when the baton was handed to me, and it’s why the business will continue to go from strength-to-strength under Diana’s leadership,” Anil said in a statement provided to PYMNTS.

The news comes weeks after a report that Monzo was considering a new application for a banking license in the U.S.

A report by the Financial Times, citing sources familiar with the matter, said Monzo executives believe the new application would be more likely to win approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), following the deregulatory push overseen by President Donald Trump. Monzo pulled an earlier application in 2021 after the OCC indicated that it would be unlikely to give the company its blessing.

As PYMNTS wrote at the time, this attempt is happening as many of the neobanks that “built their reputations in Europe are now accelerating their expansion across borders, with the United States squarely in their sights.”

“The U.S. offers fertile ground for expansion: Gen Z, the first generation of true digital natives, is beginning to accumulate income, savings and purchasing power — and their expectations for banking services align neatly with the digital-first DNA of those providers,” that report added.