Bunq tops €1bn in user deposits as it deepens involvement in Germany

Questions over returning to the office seem a distant thought for Bunq as it looks to put down roots in Cologne, Germany. 

The Dutch challenger bank will also be the first neobank outside of Germany to offer its customers the chance to receive a German International Bank Account Numbers (IBAN).

As well as deepening its involvement in Germany, Bunq also saw its customer deposits top €1bn, with the amount of money being deposited in Bunq accounts more than doubling for the second year in a row.

In 2019, user deposits grew from €211m to over €433m, only to more than double again a year later. 

“We’re so happy that our users trust us with their daily lives and keep on using the features that make their lives easy,” Ali Niknam, CEO and founder of bunq, said. 

 “With a local account number, our German members can get the full bunq experience!”

By offering its customers the chance to get a German IBAN, Bunq is hoping to negate the recent spout of IBAN discrimination sweeping Europe. 

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) regulation, published in 2012 and effective from 2014, states that businesses in the EU have to accept any bank account number, regardless of which EU country it is from.

However, some IBANs are not being treated equally, with some companies illegally refusing to accept certain IBANs from SEPA-supported bank accounts, directly violating the law.

Bunq users will be able to use the German IBAN accounts for all payments, direct debits and receive their salaries without worrying about IBAN discrimination. 

Earlier this year, Bunq became the first fintech to join the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement network developed by the European Central Bank.

The move will give Bunq’s users access to instant payments with banks both in its native Netherlands, but also across Europe too. 

Bunq is also still helping its customers to go carbon neutral, having planted 2.8m trees on their behalf in partnership with the Eden Reforestation Project.