LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) - Monzo reported its first

annual profit on Monday in a milestone for the fast-growing

British digital bank as it works towards its goal of a stock

market flotation.

The mobile app-based bank has amassed 9.7 million customers

since its launch in 2015 but had previously found it tough to

translate its popularity into profit.

Monzo reported a pretax profit of 15.4 million pounds ($19.6

million) for the year to March 2024 in its latest annual

accounts, compared with a 116.3 million pound loss the previous

year.

The company's push into more lending and savings products

has helped boost its revenue, which more than doubled to 514.4

million pounds from 214.5 million pounds.

The company secured 340 million pounds of new funding in

March in a round led by Alphabet-owned fund CapitalG,

valuing the company at 4 billion pounds ($5.1 billion).

Monzo CEO TS Anil has previously said the firm's aim is to

become a publicly-listed company.

The bank's push into lending - including buy-now-pay-later

products - has come at some cost, with its provision for

potential loan defaults almost doubling to 204 million pounds,

up from 106 million pounds.

Monzo is also making a second tilt at the lucrative U.S.

market after hiring a new leadership team for the venture, after

abandoning a previous attempt in 2021.

The company said it was also in the early stages of opening

an office in Dublin, ahead of potential expansion into further

European markets.

($1 = 0.7855 pounds)