Monzo put two specific policy asks to MPs, industry representatives and charities at a parliamentary event hosted by Callum Anderson MP on 14 July: a mandatory 30-day pension transfer deadline, and a common digital transfer system that would span all pension providers. The neobank also called for proportionate regulation that concentrates compliance friction on higher-risk transfers rather than applying it across the market uniformly.
The pitch was made by Jo Phillips, general manager for Wealth at Monzo, who framed the UK’s long-term savings problem as one of action rather than awareness. “People know that saving and investing for the future matters, but often it feels too complicated or easy to put off,” Phillips said. “The priority should be creating a policy environment that helps firms empower customers to act on their long-term finances, while removing unnecessary friction from processes like pension transfers.”
The numbers behind the argument
Monzo drew on FCA and Pensions Commission data to set the scene. One in ten UK adults hold no cash savings at all, while roughly 15 million people are not saving adequately for retirement. Against that backdrop, the company argued that the barrier is no longer convincing people they ought to save; it is helping them move from intention to action.
The company cited its own product metrics to illustrate the point. More than two million customers participated in Monzo’s 2026 Savings Challenge, a variant of the popular incremental savings format. When it launched Investments in 2023, more than a third of new investors using the product were first-time investors; among women that figure rose to 45%. The firm also said it now processes roughly one pension transfer every two minutes, a figure it offered as evidence that friction reduction drives uptake. Monzo is one of the first banks to receive regulatory approval to provide Targeted Support, a regime the FCA introduced to allow firms to offer more tailored guidance without triggering the full advice threshold.
Regulatory and competitive context
The policy calls sit within a wider reform moment for UK retail pensions. The government’s Pension Schemes Bill, currently progressing through parliament, includes measures aimed at consolidation and improved saver outcomes, but the question of transfer speed and interoperability between providers has not yet been resolved through primary legislation. A mandatory 30-day deadline would require DWP and FCA coordination to set both the commercial obligation and the consumer protection guardrails that prevent fast transfers from becoming a tool for scams, a tension the release acknowledged by calling for risk-proportionate regulation.
Monzo’s broader agenda at the event reflects a deliberate expansion of its wealth product suite beyond current accounts. Its investments platform offers a General Investment Account alongside a Stocks and Shares ISA, with a tiered fund selection ranging from ready-made risk-appetite portfolios to thematic ETFs. The pension product adds consolidation and a projection tool. Taken together, these represent an attempt to own a larger share of household balance sheets, a move several other scaled neobanks are pursuing across Europe.
Callum Anderson MP, who hosted the event, expressed support for the direction, noting the government’s existing commitment to embedding financial literacy in schools and welcoming partnerships between public bodies and private sector firms. Anderson specifically named Monzo’s 1p savings challenge as an example of practical tools that translate good intentions into behaviour change.
The near-term test for Monzo’s policy position is whether the transfer deadline proposal gains traction within the Pension Schemes Bill process or surfaces as a separate DWP consultation. Industry bodies including the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association will likely shape the response from incumbent providers, some of whom have commercial reasons to prefer longer transfer windows.