Hey @AskHalifaxBank 👋
— Tom Blomfield (@t_blom) April 12, 2019
It's great to see your updated brand identity, but it looks like you forgot to update couple of things.
The card in the photo still displays the @monzo BIN (5355 22) and the name of one of our staff members... 😉 pic.twitter.com/Ykqvz3mPZU
12 April 2019
Halifax's rebranded app looking very familiar for Monzo CEO
As recently reported, Halifax have launched a refreshed brand identity to make the point that they're an "upbeat joyful brand... in a more modern way."
It comes amid the meteoric rise of technology-focused, attention-grabbing challenger banks - the likes of which are rising in popularity and revenues rapidly. Starling has recently raised £75 million, while Monzo received a valuation of £2 billion.
However, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery it looks as if Halifax have a lot of flattery to give Monzo. In a tweet today (April 12th), Monzo's CEO Tom Blomfield pointed out some striking similarities in screenshots of Halifax's new app.
Good-naturedly, he said "it looks like you forgot to update a couple of things" - namely the bank identification number (BIN) and the cardholder name, which is still that of a Monzo employee.
The app screenshots look very similar to Monzo's interface, but the inclusion of BIN 5355 22, a code unique to Monzo cards, and used to identify the card issuer, leaves no doubt.
Pointedly, a little more than an hour later Monzo's Twitter account shared the September 2018 blog post, 'How to protect yourself against identity theft and fraud'.
