The German neobank N26, one of the largest European fintechs with more than USD 9,000 million valuation, is finally ready to tackle cryptocurrency and stock trading after striving for global expansion.
Despite being one of the early players in Europe’s fintech boom, the global ambitions of Berlin-based online bank N26 led to a setback in its diversification of services.said N26 co-founder and co-CEO Max Tayenthal in an interview with FT.
After exiting two critical fintech markets, the United States and the United Kingdom, N26 plans to “sharpen its focus on its European business” by introducing new products and services for its 7 million customers..
According to Tayenthal, who admitted that the online bank needs to expand its product universe, N26 aims to launch a cryptocurrency trading business in 2022, followed by a stock brokerage, rather than “putting flags in new markets”.
The N26 mobile app does not currently offer cryptocurrency functionality, and the features of the upcoming crypto-related product have yet to be revealed.. Cointelegraph contacted N26 for more information, and this article will be updated pending further details.
N26 announced its exit from the US market in November when it mentioned that it would offer additional financial products and services for its European clients.. “N26 will focus its strategy on expanding its digital banking experience into new verticals to include investment products in the coming year,” the announcement said.
The company was hit by several restrictions from the German financial watchdog BaFin in May 2021, in part due to its lack of anti-money laundering controls.. BaFin decreed that N26, which accepted an average of 170,000 new clients per month the previous year, cannot incorporate more than 50,000 clients per month.
Describing the new customer cap imposed by BaFin as a massive constraint on the growth of investor-funded fintech, Tayenthal said he expects the condition to be met by late summer 2022.
Keep reading: