Monzo, the digital banking start-up, has been forced to put the brakes on plans to roll out a business account offering, after failing to win part of an £80m public grant package.

The board of Banking Competition Remedies, the body responsible for distributing £775m in RBS funding to companies serving small businesses – a legacy of the bank’s crisis-era bailout – awarded its top prize of £50m to Nationwide Building Society, with Investec Bank and The Co-operative Bank each receiving £15m, on May 14.