Germany's financial regulator, Bafin, lifts growth limitations for N26.
The online bank N26 is now free to bring in an unlimited number of new customers. The financial authority Bafin has removed all growth restrictions on the institution. Bafin confirmed its statement when asked about it.
Back in November 2021, Bafin required that the startup could only sign up a maximum of 50,000 new male and female customers each month because N26 had reported suspicions of money laundering too late and other flaws in risk management during its early stages.
To ensure that N26 complied with its responsibilities, Bafin appointed a special representative in 2021. After seeing initial improvements, the restrictions were eased in December 2023, raising the monthly limit to 60,000 new male and female customers. As of June 1, 2024, there are no longer any limits on how many new customers N26 can bring in. However, the representative appointed by Bafin will remain with the company until the end of the year.
Over the past two years, N26 has invested over 100 million euros, according to their own statements, in complying with certain regulations and in their infrastructure and teams to more effectively fight financial crime and money laundering. The fintech now uses systems with artificial intelligence to do this.
These systems analyzed the potential for fraud of individual customers and potential money launderers before they even opened an account with N26. In addition, self-learning systems for transaction monitoring were put in place to identify suspicious activities in real time, the bank said.
In order to close the chapter on inadequate money laundering prevention, N26 had to pay a fine of 9.2 million euros in the end.
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Bafin's decision to lift growth restrictions on N26 marks a significant step forward in the bank's banking supervision, as it now has the freedom to prevent money laundering without any limitations on its customer base. However, Bafin's appointed representative will continue to monitor N26's compliance with money laundering prevention regulations until the end of the year.
Source: www.ntv.de
