Digital-only challenger bank Mondo is launching its alpha preview and rolling out MasterCard prepaid debit cards to the first wave of customers on its waiting list. Writing on the company's blog, CEO and co-founder Tom Blomfield says: "Over the last few months, the Mondo team has been working tirelessly on a public roll-out. We’ve partnered with key suppliers to get cards printed and connected up to the MasterCard network. At the same time, we’ve been inviting hundreds of you into our offices to play with the app - the same app you’ve seen in our screenshots and videos on social media. This feedback has been invaluable, so I’d like to thank everyone who participated. Today, I’m delighted to announce that we’re now ready to distribute live cards!"

The first wave of alphas are London-based, iPhone owners (an Android app will follow next year) and they will be able to use their cards in stores, online and at contactless terminals (including TfL). They won’t have access to Faster Payments, Direct Debit, or peer-to-peer payments, at least initially. Mondo says that, once it's happy that the first batch of 500 cards are working as anticipated, it will release more (it has 3,000 to give out over the next three months or so). After that, the venture will move into a wider beta trial.

"Mondo aims to provide a current account that lives on your smartphone and gives you control of your money. We’re in the process of obtaining a banking licence, but we won’t be regulated until 2016. So we’re not a bank yet - that’s important! We’ll be giving you access to a prepaid debit card and the Mondo iPhone app," says Blomfield. "We started Mondo because we believe that banking can be better. We’re tired of hidden fees and charges, endless paper forms, and nothing quite working in the way we’d expect. So we’re trying to build a bank that we’d want for ourselves, our friends, and our families."

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