Bunq’s 2021 results show narrowing losses as deposits reach €1.1bn

Dutch neobank Bunq edged closer towards profitability last year, as its user base of paying subscribers and a series of acquisitions paid off.

In Bunq’s 2021 annual report published yesterday, the fintech reported narrowing losses of €13.4m during the calendar year, a 16 per cent improvement on the €16m Bunq lost in 2020.

The neobank pointed to its soaring customer numbers, many of whom pay between €2.99 and €17.99/month for extra features, helping to raise its gross user fee income by 76 per cent during the year to €32.7m.

Overall Bunq’s customers increased their deposits with the bank from €813m in 2020, to €1.1bn at the end of 2021.

Those numbers have likely grown even further now, given in May 2022 the group acquired Belgian expense management fintech Tricount, which Bunq says included an additional 5.4m new customers.

It’s not the first successful acquisition for the group, Bunq made another key acquisition in 2021 that bolstered its balance sheet.

Snapping up Capitalflow Group, an Ireland-based SME lender, last July for an undisclosed amount as part of its €193m Series A funding round has paid off.

Interest income from lending grew from €0.8m in 2020 to just over €9.1m in 2021, a huge increase and a boost for Bunq’s aspirations to become a bigger player in the lending space, helped by Capitalflow and Bunq’s growing mortgage lending portfolio.

“Concurrent with offering users all over Europe a bunq experience tailored to their local needs and possibilities, bunq is making great strides in expanding its portfolio to the point where it will become a full-service bank,” the bank wrote in its results.

“Testament to these ambitions are bunq’s recent additions of its own mortgage brand or the introduction of Easy Investments, allowing users to leverage their funds on the stock market,” it continued.

“Lastly, the combined expansion of our product scope and our increased presence across Europe clearly underscores our strategy for further growth by means of mergers and acquisitions.”