As first reported by the Financial Times, Monzo’s chief executive was pushed out by the company’s board after disagreements over how fast to list on the stock market and expand overseas.

TS Anil was asked to step down amid worries about his plans for the digital bank’s international growth and whether he would stay on long after a potential stock market float, according to three people familiar with the situation.

The board and Anil had been at odds for months before his surprise departure was announced in October, with former Google executive Diana Layfield set to take over early next year.

A key dispute centred on when Monzo should go public. Anil wanted to list sooner than other board members, and indicated he might leave shortly after the float, the sources said.

Several directors felt the bank needed more time to expand abroad and increase its value before listing – two areas where they believed Anil had fallen short, people close to the matter told the FT.

One senior figure at the company said Anil was “really excited about a listing” but there were doubts about whether he would remain as boss for the long term.

The board wanted a new chief who would drive Monzo’s overseas strategy, guide it through the stock market debut and lead the business beyond that point.

“Monzo needs someone who is thinking about…where your enterprise value is in three to five years, not just an IPO,” the person was quoted as saying.

When his exit was revealed, Anil said Layfield – who worked at Google for nearly nine years and Standard Chartered for over a decade – was too strong a candidate to turn down.

He said Layfield had initially been lined up to run Monzo’s UK operations under him, but it became clear she had the skills to lead globally.

Anil, a former Visa executive who joined the UK startup in 2020 to lead its American push, became chief executive within months when founder Tom Blomfield quit due to burnout.

The company’s US expansion stalled in 2021 when it became clear regulators would not grant a banking licence, and Anil switched focus back to Britain.

Under his watch, Monzo tripled its customer base to 13 million. The bank posted record pre-tax profits of £60.5 million in the year to March, with revenues of £1.2 billion. According to reports, nearly all its customers are in the UK.

British digital banks face growing competition not just from big UK lenders like Lloyds and NatWest, but also from the US rivals such as JPMorgan Chase, which has expanded its online retail banking into the UK and Europe.

The board has recently looked at relaunching US expansion plans, the FT previously reported, and has opened an office in Dublin as a “gateway” to European markets.