N26 has so far offered its banking services in cooperation with Wirecard Bank AG. Due to the enormous customer interest, the further development of the company with its own banking license was the logical next step. Within around 18 months, the company built up a base of around 200,000 customers in eight European countries, making it one of Germany’s largest fintech companies. On July 18, 2016, the European Central Bank granted N26 permission to conduct banking business.
N26 is thus one of the first start-ups to obtain a banking license. Dr. Matthias Henke of KPMG Law sees this development as trend-setting: “N26 has set out to compete with established banks and, with its own banking license, is clearing a major hurdle to implementing the innovative power of a FinTech company more freely in the further development of its range of services.”
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