N26 gives up US business

The company now wants to focus on the European market. Outside the EU, N26 is thus only active in Brazil.

Berlin-based neobank N26 has announced that it will discontinue its business in the North American market. The banking service will no longer be available to customers in the US from January 11, 2022. N26 had already had to pull out of a major market once before: In early 2020, the bank announced its departure from the UK.

Now N26 operates almost exclusively in the European Union. Only in Brazil did the company recently launch a test balloon. In Europe, however, it remains the market leader in digital banking. Recently, N26 raised $900 million in a funding round and is now looking to add some financial products and services to its offering. N26 is also looking to expand increasingly in Eastern European countries.

For N26 employees in the U.S., the news may have caused great disappointment. After all, the company said it wanted to help everyone "find open positions in its global operations to the extent possible."

The withdrawal from the US market isn't the first setback N26 has suffered this November. There have also been problems in the bank's home country: just a week ago, it was announced that the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) had ordered N26 to accept only 50,000 new customers a month, among other things. This was due to deficiencies in risk management and outsourcing management. A special commissioner appointed by Bafin is now keeping an eye on the bank.