N26 has many new customers, but continues to make high losses

Despite deep red numbers, the fintech wants to go public in the medium term

During the Corona pandemic, digital bank N26 added two million new customers. This brings its customer base to seven million users, co-founder Valentin Stalf told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Still, the fintech continues to rack up heavy losses: in 2020, N26 made a loss of 110 million euros in its core European market.

"Our business model allowed us to continue to grow rapidly and in a very sustainable way, while strengthening our digital value proposition and relevance in a challenging economic environment," Stalf said of the latest figures. In 2019, the loss was €217 million. In the same year, N26 had a turnover of 100 million euros. The bank charges fees for premium accounts and collects commissions on payment services.

Stalf turned down rumors of an IPO in the near future. While N26 should be "stock market ready" by the end of the year in terms of internal structures, reporting and management composition, he said. "We could perhaps even make the decision to go public as early as 2022. But that has to be prepared operationally." But the IPO would also depend on the performance of the business in 2021 and 2022, he said.