The bank has partnered with investment giant BlackRock to offer the products, and promises that customers will be able to invest with just £1 and will be supported through the process with tools and automated features.
Andy Smart, Monzo’s chief product officer, said the new products gave “simple clear options with just the right amount of choice’. He added that he hoped the new features would unlock some of the nearly £600bn of British savers’ money sitting idle by making investment easier.
“We know how much our customers love investing with Monzo – and they’ve told us they want simple, clear options with just the right amount of choice. This new ETF offering is the next step in making investing even easier and more personal,” he said.
New options available
Monzo already offers an investment proposition. The ‘Keep it Simple’ option that is now available allows customers to choose from three diversified funds based on their risk appetite – ‘Careful’, ‘Balanced’ and ‘Adventurous’.
The new ‘Build Your Own’ option, which will run alongside and initially be offered to new investors, then existing customers, will allow customers to choose from 11 different ETFs – including themed and geographic funds.
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Smart said the new investments had been chosen based on customer interest. They include funds that allow you to invest in automation and robotics, clean energy and healthcare.
Research indicates overwhelm
The launch came at the same time as research from Monzo that shows that new investors want choice but “face being overwhelmed by the investment options on the market”.
The research found that nearly half (47%) of Brits have put off investing because the overwhelming number of choices makes it impossible to know where to start.
Smart said over half of respondents lacked confidence in picking the ‘right’ investment when presented with a long list. But three in five (63%) Brits said they’d be more likely to invest if they were offered a simpler way and 58% said they were interested in investment.
The new ETF service will come with automated features such as round-ups, scheduled deposits and reinvested interest.
Jane Sloan, head of iShares for Europe at BlackRock, said the list of 11 ETFs “paves the way for millions of people to have the opportunity to grow their money with confidence, starting from as little as £1.”
