N26 - Closure of UK bank

Willing2Learn

"With the UK having left the EU at the end of January, we will in due course no longer be able to operate in the UK with our European banking licence. As such we can no longer open new N26 accounts and will be closing existing accounts on 15 April 2020. We have prepared a list of FAQs which you can find below in order to answer any questions you might have. We are sorry to be leaving and we understand this will be disappointing for our customers."

Source: https://n26.com/en-gb

Uxb1

So they could not be arrsed to get a UK banking licence.
Or alternatively they knew that the UK authorities would not be giving them one now that they were no longer able to rely on the UK having to accept an euro banking licence.
The fact that N26 had been in some "difficulties" with the German finance authorities about fraud and money laundering deficiencies last year might  just possibly have had something to do with it.

colin79666

I’m sure Monzo and Starling will be fine was they are UK banks with UK licenses. Revolut however...

N26 weren’t getting the numbers needed, not surprising since they didn’t seem to offer much or even match others for features. 

gsmh

The Dutch bank Triodos appled for and received a UK banking licence in 2019. It looks like N26 didn't see a future in the UK and felt it wasn't worth applying. I opened an account early on but never used it once I realised direct debits weren't supported back then.

Wheres_My_Cashback

No UK licence, how short sighted can a bank get !
Coupled with with poor marketing, poor business development and poor future strategies pretty much summed up this non-entity in the banking world.
To blame it on Brexit is shameless.

fallen121

Had an account with N26, wasn't aware until the email came in. Mildly annoyed. Shifted everything over to Monzo. Took about 30 minutes. Have to say I like what I see.

jonesMUFCforever

If they can't make a profit then Brexit is an easy reason to give - smoke and mirrors and all that.

This might be a sign of things to come though - here one day gone the nearly next.

eDicky

More details:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51463632

SnowTiger

eDicky said:

More details:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51463632

200,000 customers in the UK apparently.

I wonder how many of those punters are like me: deposited £30, withdrew £20 and haven't used their account for over six months?

The, so called, unbanked market is looking a bit crowded now.

According to Wikipedia N26 is due to launch in Brazil soon; and already operates in Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and the US, so it can operate outside the EU if it really wants to.

I think the biggest problem these upstarts face is the that UK already has a pretty advanced banking system that offers 'free' banking.  I can sit here in my underwear with my tablet or phone in my hand and open a bank account within five minutes.  And that bank account will offer free ATM withdrawals, free direct debits, free transfers and in some cases free overseas spending and ATM withdrawals... with no monthly fee.

IIRC someone posted here recently about banking in Germany where fees are more common.

N26 doesn't have a USP for UK customers, apart from its cute transparent debit card.

Fees

N26 has a basic account with no monthly fee and charges no fees for basic banking transactions or credit card payments in foreign currencies. In the Eurozone (except Austria and Italy) ATM withdrawals are limited to five per month for primary account holders and three per month for others. N26 charges a €2 fee for any additional withdrawal. In the UK, free ATM withdrawals are unlimited.

ATM withdrawals in foreign currencies are also subject to a 1.70% fee for basic account and are free for N26 You and Metal account holders.

German customers can also withdraw and deposit money at retail locations. While there is no fee for withdrawals up to €999, free deposits are limited to €100 and additional amounts are subject to a 1.5% fee.

afis1904

Yeah, in Germany there's not a single high Street bank without charges and even most banks without any branches do charge. Also, most German cards (not N26) run on a girocard system which makes them useless online and abroad so N26 has some very big selling points over there

Uxb1

The UK is almost unique in the world for not overtly charging for providing banking facilities by way of monthly fees.
Then again N26 are not the first bank from abroad to "arrive" in the UK promising everything will be different only to find the UK banking and savings market along with customer expectations are rather different to what they are used to.  Due diligence you ask?  Market research?
Way back in the 2000's we had the Dutch group ING come in promising a revolution in UK savings. That rapidly hit the buffers when the BoE raised interest rates and ING did not.
ING claimed that customers preferred and valued their superior service over rises in rates - only to find that most did not and it later admitted it had underestimated the sophistication of the UK savings market as I think their quote said. I recall a newspaper comment at the time asking whether ING were actually trying deliberately to trash their own reputation.