Monzo’s chair, Gary Hoffman, will leave the U.K.-based fintech in early September, the company said Monday.
Karen Peacock, a non-executive director who joined Monzo’s board last October, will serve as interim chair while the fintech searches for Hoffman’s permanent successor, the company said.
“While it was tempting to stay for my full 9 year term … this feels like the natural time to depart as Monzo pursues its next phase of growth,” Hoffman said in a statement.
Hoffman’s term would have expired in early 2028. And while the past year has seen a power struggle at Monzo, Hoffman emphasized his health was at the root of his departure.
“On a personal note, I am now successfully through several years of difficult prostate cancer treatment and I want to enjoy my good fortune in recovering by focusing on the people and priorities that inevitably take a back seat in a demanding role: my family and my passion for sport,” Hoffman said Monday.
Early in his Monzo tenure, Hoffman also served as chair of English Premier League soccer. But Hoffman had made his mark primarily in banking: He spent 25 years at Barclays, including as chief executive at Barclaycard, before running British bank Northern Rock for two years around the height of the 2008 financial crisis.
Hoffman will remain available through the end of the year to support Peacock, Monzo said.
“When Gary joined Monzo, we had 1.6 million customers and a mission,” Peacock said. “Today we are 10 times that scale, with 16 million customers and products spanning almost every aspect of our customers’ financial lives.”
Monzo reported a 44% jump in profit for the year that ended in March. Revenue has also spiked 39% in fiscal 2026, the company disclosed.
Monzo was last valued at $5.9 billion in 2024.
Over the past year, Monzo has closed its U.S. operations, secured a European banking license, bought a digital mortgage broker and laid out plans to launch mobile-phone services.
Amidst all that, however, the fintech’s top ranks have undergone contentious change.
Monzo’s then-CEO, TS Anil, announced in October he would leave to make room for a new leader, Diana Layfield.
Monzo’s board met Layfield while searching for candidates to serve as the fintech’s U.K. CEO, but “it became clear to me that she’d be a fantastic leader who could drive the business at the global level,” Anil wrote in a LinkedIn post at the time.
However, it was later reported that the board asked Anil to leave. Anil and Monzo’s board disagreed on where to be listed in an upcoming initial public offering, according to the Financial Times. Anil favored New York – before Monzo pulled out of the U.S. – while directors were leaning toward London, the publication reported.
Anil’s departure angered some of Monzo’s largest shareholders, who sought Hoffman’s removal. The former CEO later returned to Monzo’s board as vice chair, and the campaign to oust Hoffman ended.
Monzo did eventually land a U.K. leader. Hoffman appointed Rupert Keeley, a former PayPal executive, as Monzo's U.K. chair. Keeley will also serve on Monzo’s larger corporate board as a non-executive director.
Layfield, meanwhile, has pledged to expand into more European countries.
Peacock, Hoffman’s successor-for-now, previously served as CEO of customer service platform Intercom and held several leadership roles at Intuit, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also serves as lead independent director on the board of cloud storage firm Dropbox.
