Banks look to open “opportunities for customers to tell us something we need to know.” That is according to Monzo’s Harry Ashbridge as the bank’s focus on best way of supporting vulnerable customers.
Monzo became the first UK bank to put in a gambling block for those who declared that they needed extra support. This is one of many vulnerable groups that will benefit from additional assistance. That was in 2018.
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Since then many other banks have followed in Monzo’s footsteps, with most banks now offering this feature
Ashbridge spoke at the Customer Experience in Financial Services Conference 2024. His elaboration of the feature is what makes it particularly interesting. It is refreshingly honest. One can turn on ITV’s coverage of the Euros and find themselves watching five adverts for betting websites, all with the compulsory message about safe gambling. These can often be hard to take with complete sincerity.
However, Ashbridge stresses that Monzo customers who have this restriction do so through being self-identified. Not through AI. Ashbridge said: “We can’t tell people what to do with their money.” It is with this honesty towards an act aimed at improving the way vulnerable people bank that comes as a refreshing twist to the usual ’when the fin stops, stop’ spiel. It is hard for viewers to put their faith in the very thing that is causing them harm.
Around 2m people in Great Britain experience harm caused by gambling. Around 300,000 people are gambling to the point in which it compromises, disrupts, or damages family, personal or recreational pursuits.
Therefore every time you spend on your Monzo card, the transaction is tagged with information about what you’re spending money on. This is how it builds tools like spending categories to help budget. Every time you spend money with a gambling operator, the transaction is tagged with a gambling merchant category code. When someone turns the gambling block on, Monzo declines any gambling transactions before they go through.
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By GlobalDataSince this introduction, most banks have the ability to block gambling transactions easily, through googling “bank name – gambling block” or searching gambling block on the banking app’s help menu.
