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SEVERAL STARTUPS ARE hard at work right now trying to build new, truly digital banks from the ground up.

They include Atom Bank, which has a banking licence, Starling Bank, and Mondo, both of which are applying for banking licences.

All of them want to launch banks with no branches, only apps and websites.

One of them, Mondo, gave Business Insider a look inside its “smart” app that customers can control their current account from.

Mondo is currently in a testing phase and will be releasing around 500 pre-paid debit cards that can be controlled from the app in October (you can sign up here).

It hopes to get its full banking licence at the start of next year and launch a current account shortly after.

Founder Tom Blomfield says Mondo’s “entire experience is designed around your smartphone.” Check out what it can do:

Here’s the Mondo dashboard where you can see all your transactions, how much you’ve spent that day, and how much you’ve got left in your account, which is linked to the app.

The dashboard also gives you a graph, pictured at the top of the screen, that lets you see what your spending is doing to your bank balance over the month.

For every transaction, Mondo automatically pulls data on things like location, type of shop, pictures and logos. It also automatically gives relevant tags — in this case #food.

When you spend money the app will also notify you so you can keep track of your spending and make sure it was actually you that spent the money.

The app uses all the data it collects to give you clever visualisations of what you spent where. It uses geolocation on the phone to track this.

The app also uses data to spot anomalies​ — say if a bill is way higher than it should be that month.

You can also compare your spending to previous weeks and months to make sure you’re not overspending.

If you do overspend and run out of money for the month, Mondo will send you a message asking if you want to take out an overdraft. That’s how the startup plans to make its money.

This is just a glimpse at what the app can do.

- Oscar Williams-Grut

Read: This bank will let you log into your account using only your voice >