Most US card programs default to rigid category-based rewards: 3% on dining, 2% on gas, 1% everywhere else. Monzo wanted something better: let customers choose the specific merchants where they earn cashback, not broad buckets. But that only works if the underlying transaction data can accurately identify merchants in real time. Generic categorization or inconsistent merchant names break the experience immediately.
Spade made that personalization possible. “As we brought Monzo to the US, we knew we needed to maintain the same high bar for customer experience,” said Peter Lu, Head of US Product at Monzo. “That meant letting customers choose where they earn cashback, not forcing generic categories. Spade’s accurate merchant data makes that personalization possible.” When a customer selects their favorite coffee shop for cashback, the transaction data has to recognize that exact location — not guess, not approximate, not lump it into “restaurants.” Spade enables Monzo to do just that.