Monzo chair Gary Hoffman to step down in September as the bank lines up a potential £6bn float

Gary Hoffman is to stand down as chair of Monzo in September after nearly eight years, with Karen Peacock named interim successor. The change lands as the digital bank prepares the ground for a potential listing that could value it at around £6bn.

Hoffman has chaired Monzo's board through the bulk of its scale-up years, a period in which the challenger bank grew from an app-first current account into one of the UK's largest retail banking franchises by customer numbers. His departure closes a tenure of close to eight years.

The exit does not come from nowhere. It follows a shareholder revolt at the bank, with investors having pushed back over governance and board matters, and Hoffman's move brings that chapter to a head. Monzo has moved quickly to steady the board, naming Karen Peacock as interim chair while it runs a search for a permanent appointment.

For a company on an IPO track, the chair is a cap-table question as much as a governance one. A listing hands a public register of shareholders a direct say over the board, and incoming investors scrutinise who sits at the top of it. Resolving the chairmanship before a float removes an overhang that could otherwise follow Monzo into its investor roadshow.

The numbers underline what is at stake. Monzo reported revenue of roughly £1.7bn for its most recent financial year, and it has been working with Morgan Stanley as it weighs a listing. Reports have put a potential IPO valuation in the region of £6bn, which would rank the bank among the largest UK fintech debuts to date. Monzo has not confirmed a timetable, and no listing has been formally announced.

The company's existing cap table is a mix of venture and growth investors built up across successive private rounds, alongside employee and founder holdings. A float would convert those private stakes into publicly traded shares and set a market price against the valuations struck in Monzo's later fundraises.

The immediate task falls to Peacock and the board: appoint a permanent chair, keep the shareholder base aligned, and hold the bank's listing option open. Monzo has not disclosed a shortlist for the permanent role, and terms of Hoffman's departure were not disclosed.

For the UK fintech sector, a Monzo listing would be a bellwether — a test of public-market appetite for a home-grown neobank after years in which the largest names stayed private.

Original source: Tech.eu — https://tech.eu/2026/08/17/monzo-chairman-gary-hoffman-to-stand-down-after-nearly-eight-years/