Just months after receiving its banking license, Berlin-headquartered mobile-only bank N26 is active in 17 eurozone countries. The rapid rollout was made possible by N26 linking up with innovative partners, including TransferWise (intercurrency transfers), Vaamo (N26 Invest) and Barzahlen (Cash26).
“When you think about it, TransferWise has several hundred specialists working on offering international transfers at the best rates,” says Maximilian Tayenthal, N26’s CFO and founder, noting that the bank employs only 200 people.
“Instead of trying to rebuild a similar product, we joined forces to bring their services to our users across Europe,” Tayenthal continues. “So cooperation is an integral part of our business model, not only to offer new services, but more importantly, to offer our customers the best value in products.”
He also insists Brexit did not impact the decision to delay a UK rollout. “As handling foreign currencies adds complexity, we decided to first expand to euro countries,” Tayenthal explains. “However, our vision is to be active in all European markets, independent of currency.”
