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N26 will be leaving the UK

n26.com

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Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#211

Post by [deleted] »

jfengel wrote: post #40
tablloyd wrote: post #18

I'm skeptical of Brexit being the reason that N26 is withdrawing from the UK. They started operation in the uk in October 2018, over 2 years after the referendum result and 6 months before the UK was meant to leave until the date got pushed back.

I agree with your skepticism, but it's important to note that Brexit being pushed back implied that it might not happen, or that it might be very soft. It wasn't certain until a couple of months ago, when the vote effectively reaffirmed Brexit (or at the very least, that the Remain vote was so badly confused as to make it a fait accompli). So there is almost certainly more going on here than Brexit, but there's also…

[deleted]

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#212

Post by ThePhysicist »

danpalmer wrote: post #11

Businesses pulling out of the UK based on the Brexit process is bad for the UK, and I'm sure this was indeed mainly motivated by N26's need for a UK banking licence, which is a costly and difficult process to go through. However, it's worth noting that they are pretty small in the UK (~200k users). They're very successful in Germany where banking is a very slow, difficult, manually run industry (from what I've heard)…

German/European banking is not so bad, you can transfer money in one business day to any other EU/SEPA country without charge. You also have debit cards that are widely accepted and allow you to pay directly from your bank account, which is also nice. There are not so many banks that offer APIs (only Commerzbank and N26 I think) but there are other interfaces that allow you to export transactions to third party systems. Could be worse I think.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#213

Post by briandear »

qubex wrote: post #109
davidw wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> at your one specific branch, Italy is the same way and it is awful . We signed up for our bank account at one specific branch of a bank in Padova, Italy, and it's impossible to do much besides withdraw some cash at other branches. It's so dumb.

As an Italian, I understand this... but the obvious question is: why didn’t you open it at a branch more convenient for you?

What’s the point of branches? It isn’t like computers aren’t a thing.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#214

Post by nullandvoid »

pzumk wrote: post #192
reubenmorais wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved from Brazil to Germany last year and if you consider this instant I have bad news to share. At least with Commerzbank it's slow as molasses. In Brazil for same bank transfers I'd get an SMS in my phone at the same time as the sender got the confirmation that the transfer went through on their phone. Transfers between banks would typically clear in 2 hours or less. With cash withdrawals I got an SMS in my phon…

Earlier this week I sent money from ING to N26, took them 55 minutes. Then I sent money from Postbank to N26 and it took them 24 hours. This is not “instant”, but 1 hour is much better than 1 day.

That's crazy my transfers between large traditional banks to internet ones in the uk is < 5 seconds

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#215

Post by skrause »

mpweiher wrote: post #156
jotm wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first German bank account was with Sparkasse, and I had to request a MasterCard separately (the main card was Maestro I think? useless for online payments). It wasn't even attached to the account, I had to transfer money to it (so, a prepaid card) and couldn't even see the remaining balance (I really tried). Terrible experience, but they were the only option for me at the time.

Yes, Germany uses the Maestro cards, not Credit Cards like MasterCard or Visa. Since that's what all the shops + ATMs take, that's the card you want.

No, Germany doesn't use Maestro, it uses Girocard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girocard

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#216

Post by alibarber »

danpalmer wrote: post #11

Businesses pulling out of the UK based on the Brexit process is bad for the UK, and I'm sure this was indeed mainly motivated by N26's need for a UK banking licence, which is a costly and difficult process to go through. However, it's worth noting that they are pretty small in the UK (~200k users). They're very successful in Germany where banking is a very slow, difficult, manually run industry (from what I've heard)…

I've recently moved from the UK to another European country, and whilst I despise the way the politics is going back home - I'm amazed at how much better banking is back in the UK. It's free to have an account and debit card, often with a modest free overdraft. And transfers are really instant. As in I can transfer from Barclays to Santander and by the time I've double-tapped between bank apps the money will be there cleared, at any time of day.

Here it's 'transfer before 2pm and we'll send it the same _working_ day!!' And that's once you've made your appointment a week out to open an account, and maybe received everything after a few weeks (if they like you that is)...

I got the impression that N26 was mainly to challenge the latter way of working. I didn't understand what their offer was even for a free account that was better than even a 'legacy' bank in the UK (and I'm not sure they even support direct debit - which would have made it useless for any super-cheap energy/phone etc deals).

In all - yes Brexit sucks, yes they may have stayed in the UK without it (although I wouldn't have expected them to introduce anything new), but I don't think they can blame any lack of success in the UK on it.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#217

Post by mwfunk »

ars wrote: post #48
princekolt wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still trying to understand the point of your comment, but regardless: You haven't heard of it. So what? People will be affected by this. This will also not be the only company who will have to leave the UK because they've deemed the cost of legalising their business there after Brexit is not worth the benefits. So you're either in denial about that fact or you think it doesn't matter, which perhaps works for you…

He's saying the reason they failed is nothing to do with brexit and everything to do with the fact that no one knew about them. But they are blaming brexit instead of their own failure.

He's also saying that because he didn't know about them, they must not be well known, which isn't a great way to make a point.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#218

Post by nullandvoid »

toyg wrote: post #199
speedski1 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random question, but I'm moving to London in a few months, do you have any suggestions on banks or "challenger" banks I should go with? (couldn't figure out how to DM you, not sure if it's possible on Hacker News)

Starling.

No card alias support at the minute they are trailing behind there

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#219

Post by wikibob »

LinusU wrote: post #196
speedski1 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random question, but I'm moving to London in a few months, do you have any suggestions on banks or "challenger" banks I should go with? (couldn't figure out how to DM you, not sure if it's possible on Hacker News)

I've been using Monese since I moved here ~2.5 years ago. It was great as I was able to open the account in the weeks _before_ moving over, and thus already had a ready to go payment card & UK Bank Account when I arrived!

Monese is not a bank. They are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (Equivalent to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation FDIC in the USA).

They are an "Authorised Electronic Money Institution" like PayPal. If they go bankrupt, you will lose all your money.

https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_FirmDetailsPage?id=0010X000...

I'd strongly recommend you open a real banking account.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#220

Post by barnabee »

scarejunba wrote: post #61

The comments here are odd. N26 isn't making any political statements. They're just saying they don't want to apply for a UK banking licence now that they can't use an EU one. The response "they're only doing this because they can't make enough money in the UK" seems kind of vacuous. Of course that's why they're doing it. The cost of requiring a UK licence outweighs the benefit of being there. There seems to be some s…

It’s not so much “Brexit didn’t cause this” as it is hard to believe that’s the main reason their business failed in the UK (make no mistake, that is what they are admitting, whatever the reason). The comments are quite reasonably identifying that their statement is conveniently burying the real news with an excuse that will surely be easy to swallow in their home country.

Brexit is bad but that isn’t the news here. I’m sure we’ll see plenty more of this.

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