Sujata Bhatia is a former American Express executive and will replace the previous COO Tom Foster-Carter.
Bhatia’s appointment has been confirmed by Monzo, yet it is still subject to regulatory approval. She’s likely to start the COO role in late June.
Read also: Monzo shuts Las Vegas customer support office, 165 employees being let go
Prior to Monzo, Bhatia worked at American Express for nearly 16 years, most recently as Senior Vice President for Global Merchant Services Europe. Before she was Senior Vice President of Global Strategy and Capabilities, where she has lead a team of 400 people across 23 global markets.
Bhatia will join Monzo during a critical time for the challenger bank since it is as other fintech companies struck by the coronavirus crisis that is already resulting in an economic downturn. The new COO will likely need to “hit the ground running”.
This coronavirus crisis has resulted in Monzo having customer card spend reduce, generating significantly less revenue from interchange fees. Challengerbanks have also faced download drops during the lockdown. Monzo has been the leader in the net switch between accounts in the Q4 of 2019, see more about this in the article below.
Related: Monzo has attracted most people who switched their accounts
Monzo bank has also recently applied for a US banking license yet it has shut down its Las Vegas customer support center and it will provide service for their US customers from a nigh shift UK office.
So it will definitely be a huge challenge for Sujata Bhatia to manage the COO position successfully. But then again, she is quite an experienced leader and this is likely the main reason Monzo has appointed her in the first place.
