Monzo

Monzo is the kind of bank people pick for day-to-day money management on a phone, with a clean app, instant card controls and tidy spending breakdowns. By our assessment, it does that core job better than most high-street banks, especially for people who like alerts, pots and a clear view of where cash is going. The trade-off is that it is still a current-account bank, so it will not feel rich in branch service or old-style product breadth. In practice it is quick, visual and a bit opinionated about budgeting, which makes it easy to live with if you want structure. It sits closer to Starling Bank than to the big legacy lenders, and the usual Monzo experience is digital first rather than counter first. Monzo is based in the United Kingdom, and that is the sort of setup that makes the app the centre of the relationship.