the world of fintech continues to evolve, so much so that some brands are already in the process of joining one of the most popular services in Spain. This is, of course, Bizum. The pride of the traditional banking country that has managed to be in the accounts of almost 20 million users. Now, N26 announces that it will enter the select group of Bizum after the summer.
It has not been an easy road in any case. “It has taken us many months to do this integration,” says Marta Echarri, general manager of N26, to hypertextual.
On the one hand, N26 is a fintech with German banking license and permission to operate as a bank in Spain under the order of the national banking regulator. This means that, ultimately, their payment systems are governed by German regulations. With the SEPA system, specifically. Spain, using the Iberpay system to manage Bizum, does not conform to the German standard. “It was very difficult for us to sell the product in Germany because they did not understand why it worked in another way,” they point out. Like the width of the train tracks a few years ago, the instant payment routes were also created in a different way from the European community model.
Once the Bizum idea had been sold, it remained to adapt to the model proposed by the 5 large banking entities that own the technology. The room for maneuver is almost nil, but the demands are many. “They have a scope very small, that you have to assume all the technical requirements, and then you can do something additional in higher layers”, they explain. Adapting to the technical complexities has been difficult. They suggest that they will include some additional service that, to date, it does not offer none of the competition. But, with everything, this will not modify the official parameters of Bizum. Its similarity between entities is, in fact, part of its success.
First fintech in Bizum: the challenge of convincing
With 20 million users in Spain, Bizum can be considered a full-fledged success. The entities that created their own system, such as ING, ended up surrendered to the massive model of the instant payment system.
These figures are tempting: an entity with Bizum is much more attractive. But, this is also a problem for N26. The last to reach the Bizum league, they will have to face the challenge of conquering and stealing users from other banks. One of the peculiarities of the system is that it is associated with a single telephone number, which means that it can only be linked to one entity. N26 knows that it has a challenge once it announces its joining the Bizum ecosystem.
First they will attack to users who have been asking for months about the inclusion of the technology in N26. Then they expect organic growth in the medium term. What first fintech associated with the elitist club Bizum, they hope to attract a large number of users who, to date, maintained traditional banking models, precisely because of the usefulness of the service.
Optimism and road to a crypto service
The world of banking, finance and technology investments fintech They are going through a difficult time. With a rise in interest rates by the European Central Bank, the coming months promise to be complicated to obtain credit from entities. These, for their part, maintain the type.
“As a bank, the increase in interest rates by Europe benefits us because we capture deposits from savers that we can lend in the form of credit. With high interest rates, we have greater profitability. And this benefits us in cash because of the benefits that they can bring us”
Marta Echarri
The financing round that N26 closed in 2021 is also added. In October of last year, the fintech German raised 900 million euros at a valuation of 9,000 million euros. A round that a year later would not have been so optimistic, makes N26 have enough cash to be able to follow their daughter on the road. Unlike Klarna, which a few weeks ago announced a paradigm shift.
All in all, and in addition to the launch of Bizum, N26 wants to jump into a tough industry right now. Before the end of the year, the fintech German wants to launch its own crypto product in Spain. In the middle of the so-called crypto winter, N26 wants to take advantage of a sector that will rise sooner or later.