The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 runner-up and overall fastest growing FinTech for 2025, Monument Bank, was created to serve affluent, time-constrained individuals and challenge a simple paradox: banks hold vast amounts of client data, yet fail to provide services people actually want. As CCO Wasim Khouri put it, “I could never understand why banks have all this data about you but can’t offer you anything that you actually want.”

Established in London in 2017, Monument set out to serve affluent, time-constrained individuals. The idea originated from the frustrations of its founding team, who found that traditional high-street banks failed to meet the needs of premier clients-particularly when it came to even the simplest of requests, such as joint accounts. The company’s growth can be attributed to its human-based service and commitment to fostering customer trust. From its inception, it quickly established credibility with clients. CEO Ian Rand explains that, in over two years, the business managed £1bn in savings and reached over £6bn 14 months later, averaging £60k in savings per customer. To date, the company has raised £170m in equity investment through seven funding rounds to drive product innovation and R&D.

Technology is at the core of its value proposition. Wasim Khouri highlights how the company’s main goal from day one was to build a Lego-like platform with a simple strategy “buy the commodity, build the differentiator.” Monument’s software system is structured around three components: the front end, the “brain” (housing its intellectual property), and its data layer, explains Wasim. This framework enables seamless integration of customer experiences. The next frontier is agentic AI, which the bank is exploring to deliver personalised recommendations before clients even know they want them.

Discussing current challenges in tech, Monument’s team highlighted that business agility is challenged by regulatory bottlenecks. As Rand stressed, lengthy approval timelines make it difficult to bring new products to market quickly - a common pain point across the tech industry.

Looking at talent, Wasim highlights curiosity as the key quality Monument seeks, especially as the business regularly debates how AI can be used more effectively. The question, he explains, is whether people are “keen and willing to try out those tools.” Beyond individual skills, Monument focuses on talent density: the belief that one exceptional person can outperform multiple average hires. This drives the company to continually reassess whether they have the best people for both today and the next stage of growth. Rather than expanding headcount, individuals are expected to use AI and other tools to boost efficiency, with new hires made only when top-tier expertise is required, whether in compliance, investments, or lending.

This focus on adaptability and innovation underpins Monument’s long-term vision. The company aims to position itself as a trusted, recognisable brand for the mass affluent. Beyond the UK, its ambitions include powering other neobanks with its technology and expanding into growth markets such as India and UAE.