The banking licence was granted by the European Central Bank on 18 July 2016, after 9 months the agency received N26’s application. This provides the regulatory approval to conduct banking operations across Europe.
N26 is a provider of mobile banking. The combination of its app design, personalised accounts, real-time banking, innovative products like CASH26 (cash withdrawals at retailers) or MoneyBeam (money transfers via SMS or email in just a few seconds) has attracted a base of more than 200.000 customers in eight European countries.
The banking licence empowers N26 to strengthen its platform of banking products. Instead of developing all products in-house, N26 pursues the approach of partnering with the most innovative fintechs and financial providers around the world. The company is planning innovations like real-time credit, greater security through artificial intelligence and expense sharing, which allows a group of friends to split a bill amongst themselves with just a few taps.
The business model is primarily based on card transaction revenue and commission income from financial partners. Following its Series B funding round of USD 40 million in June 2016, and now with the receipt of a bank licence, N26 is going to change the retail banking market in future.
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