Maximilian Tayenthal admits mistakes

Lisa Marie Münster Lisa Marie Münster | 11.01.2022

The N26 founder tells the Financial Times that N26's rapid expansion was a mistake. It would have been better for the fintech to focus on new products or business areas such as cryptocurrency trading.

There has been bad news at N26 for months, and now founder Max Tayenthal admits to the Financial Times admits, "Should we have built the trading and crypto divisions instead of launching in the U.S.? In hindsight, it might have been a smart idea." Neobank had closed its U.S. business in November, having previously pulled out of the U.K. as well. There are "so many things we could be working on instead of entering new markets," Tayenthal continued. For example, N26 wants to expand its "product universe, and we need to."

The fintech received a valuation of around nine billion euros in 2021, but had to tolerate a special representative in its offices as a measure by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin). Bafin complained of deficiencies in risk management and inadequate anti-money laundering measures. In addition, Bafin has limited the number of new customers to 50,000 per month in the EU.

For Tayernthal, this is a "massive restriction" that he expects to be lifted by late summer. N26's investors and investors are also playing a role: "There is a lot of confidence in our ability to remove these growth restrictions again," Tayenthal said. N26 had changed its compliance regulations and its controls in response to BaFin's requirements, and also expanded its management team to do so.

N26 now plans to enter the cryptocurrency and equities business. After that, Tayenthal said he wants to possibly make the fintech ready for an IPO. But this is only one option for N26's future, he said.


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