Bunq strikes deal with green lending platform to offer new set of mortgages

Dutch challenger bank bunq has teamed up with a green lending platform to offer a new set of mortages.

Bunq said it expects to offer the new set of mortgages next year, after striking a deal with Dutch lender Tulp.

Last year, the Dutch challenger revealed it had entered into the mortgage business, saying it had  become the first digital challenger bank to offer mortgages. 

It entered into a partnership with third party broker, asset manager NN Investment Partners, which offered the loans though bunq’s app while bunq diverted 25 per cent of its user deposits, worth around €100m, to back the venture.

Bunq said this latest deal with have no impact on its deal with NN IP.

Unlike its peers, many of whom offer customers loans in the form of overdrafts, bunq has chosen, instead, to help its customers become homeowners. 

Mortgages offers fintechs the opportunity to lock in users for the long-term and the move will give bunq a point of difference to rivals.

Bunq’s mortgages will initially be available in the Netherlands.

It said  around two-thirds of its home loans on its balance sheet will be covered by the Dutch government’s insurance scheme, which guarantees homes up to €355,000 in the event the borrower defaults. 

Tulp, founded in 2015, has a presence in the Dutch residential mortgage market and in the buy to let market. It was the first lender to introduce a green buy to let mortgage under the brand De Nederlandse.

Ali Niknam, founder and CEO of bunq, said: “At bunq we are constantly innovating and evolving to serve our users. Becoming the first digital bank in Europe to offer our users mortgages is an incredibly exciting development for everyone at bunq”. 



Paul Wessels, co-founder and CCO of Tulp Group, said: “Tulp is excited to support bunq to become a successful new lender in the Dutch market. This partnership is a great opportunity for the further positioning of our existing Dutch lending platform.”