As part of a strategic relationship to improve its banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform, the banking behemoth paid £35 million in 2022 for a minority investment in Monese. Later, the company's solution was integrated into its retail banking app.

But according to a City AM article that references recent filings, HSBC has now "completely impaired" its remaining $5.86 million holding in Monese.

This move, on which an HSBC representative declined to comment, is made as Monese looks for new money for 2024 following the disclosure of a £30.5 million deficit in 2022.

Kinnevik, which headed Monese's $60 million Series B in 2018 and owned a 21% share in the business, made the decision to write down its whole investment in February.

The Swedish investment organization declared at the time that it intended to undertake “large write-downs or write-offs” in portfolio businesses when its “conviction has come down”.

A Monese representative provided FinTech Futures a more optimistic assessment when Kinnevik revealed its divestiture, stating that the business was starting 2024 "in a positive position" after a successful 2023, with losses dropping to "low single-digit millions."

With the sale of its Argentine business to Grupo Financiero Galicia in April, the sale of its French retail banking arm to Crédit Commercial de France in January, and the agreement this month to sell its German private banking unit to BNP Paribas, HSBC is continuing its recent pattern of asset sales.