N26 confirms withdrawal from US market

Just three days after co-CEO and co-founder Maximillian Tayenthal revealed N26 was scaling back its American operations, the German digital bank has officially withdrawn from the US.

N26 will no longer be available to use in the US from 11 January 2022, leaving its 500,000 American customers in the lurch.

In a statement, N26 said: “N26’s vision is to build the bank the world loves to use, and the digital banking pioneer will continue to work towards this.”

“Learnings from N26’s two years of growth in the US market are being constantly applied as it further expands its product portfolio and scales its global business.”

N26 first announced it would dip its toes into the US market in January 2019, officially launching seven months later in August 2019, and quickly amassed 250,000 customers in just five months in the US.

Back in May 2020, N26 slimmed down its New York offices by 10 per cent, which included letting go of its US CEO Nicolas Kopp, with the bank now paying even less attention to its overseas operations.

Despite hinting at a withdrawal from the US market, N26 recently scooped a Brazilian banking licence, with plans to launch its services in the South American country imminently—although it remains unclear what steps the bank has taken to do so.

N26’s shift to a more European focus should come as no surprise following its withdrawal from the UK market last year, citing Brexit uncertainty as the primary reason.