N26 Competitor Bunq Makes a Profit for the First Time

The Dutch smartphone bank Bunq was in the black for the first time last year. According to its own information, the bank achieved a net profit of 53 million euros, as it announced on Tuesday morning. The fintech startup benefits from the increased interest rates like the established banks. Deposits have recently increased to almost seven billion euros, according to the bank.

The company has around eleven million active users, she explained. More than half of this is relevant to earnings. Bunq considers customers who have used the app at least once in the past month to be active.

Bunq was founded in 2012 by Ali Nikman. The IT entrepreneur is still at the top of the company. The company offers a checking account that is primarily designed for the app.

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N26 has around three times as many employees as Bunq

The fintech company from Amsterdam is often compared to its Berlin competitor N26, which was launched in 2013. However, in terms of financial results, Bunq is in a better position. N26 expects a loss of around 100 million euros for 2023.

In addition, Bunq gets by with around a third of the workforce: the company has 510 full-time positions. N26, on the other hand, has more than 1,500 employees.

N26, one of the most valuable German fintech companies, is ahead in the rating. During the most recent financing round in 2021, the smartphone bank was valued at 7.7 billion euros. Bunq raised money for the first time from an external investor in the summer of the same year and was valued at 1.6 billion euros.

N26 recently reported the number of more than eight million customers in 24 countries. However, Bunq does not disclose the number of checking accounts, which makes a direct comparison difficult. Unlike N26, Bunq offers other account types – for example savings accounts and the management of group expenses via Tricont.

Such accounts do not require strict identity verification, or “Know Your Customer” (KYC) in technical jargon, as is required for checking accounts.

Despite international expansion, the home market is very important for both neobanks. Last summer, Bunq explained that almost 60 percent of current account users come from the Netherlands. At N26, around half of the 4.2 million revenue-relevant customers are in Germany.

Bunq also wants to expand the business outside the EU

The fintech company has applied for a US banking license, the company announced last year. Bunq now also wants to grow in Great Britain , where the company had already been recruiting new customers before Brexit . The fintech has applied for a license as an e-money institution there, Bunq also announced on Tuesday. Bunq could offer a number of current account services, but not operate a deposit business.

In contrast, N26 withdrew from the USA two years ago. 500,000 accounts were affected. The fintech company was launched in the USA in 2019, together with the partner bank Axos. N26 had not acquired its own banking license there. After Brexit, N26 also left the British market. The fintech completed a test phase in Brazil at the end of last year.

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(Featured image by Blake Wisz via Unsplash)

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