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N26 will be leaving the UK

n26.com

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Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#451

Post by zaarn »

rjzzleep wrote: post #446
thaumasiotes wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Obvious corruption"? Based on this thread, it looks like "this would be hard for us, so we object to the requirement". There are a number of ways you could slam that... but corruption?

I wouldn't disagree. The fact that they can force the government to do their bidding is corruption in my eyes too. The carmakers in Germany shut down various attempts to incentivize electronic cars and inquiries in their criminal behavior in the cheating scandals. I think there is a fine line between lobbying and being downright criminal. I think most companies have actually crossed the line. Deutsche Bahn after priv…

The EU generally talks to the industry affected by some regulations, this is generally to prevent deploying a regulation or law that doesn't really work in practise and to find a reasonable compromise (of course, sometimes multiple industries end up at the table, some with more political power than others, which is how you get the EU copyright reform pushed by newspapers and yellow journalists)

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#452

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

satysin wrote: post #386
alibarber wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Oh. My. God. YES! I moved from the UK to [redacted] in 2018 (in part due to Brexit but that is a longer story) and dear god the banking systems here are utter shit. I am with HSBC and I can't even change the PIN on my debit card! Hell I couldn't even get my card and cheque book (yes they still use cheques here!) delivered to my address as it was a temporary one so I had to collect it from my branch in person. If I bu…

It sounds like Bunq would be right up your alley.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#453

Post by inferiorhuman »

raverbashing wrote: post #443
patio11 wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are three relatively common ways to send money electronically between two US bank accounts: Zelle: effectively instant, requires both banks to be on the network, free. Relatively new and many people who could use it don’t. ACH: a few days, effectively ubiquitous, very small underlying charge infrequently marked up to ~$3 by the bank. Wire transfers: not quite instant but close during banking hours, effectively…

Rest of the world: looks like Zelle most of the time (some occasions it's +1 day) Banks in Europe: There might be a fee in some cases but I don't remember paying one (or it's But can people (not business) initiate ACH transactions?

But can people (not business) initiate ACH transactions?

Yes. I used to do it to move money between checking accounts at different institutions. I don't think I've ever had an account that charged for ACH transfers. Meanwhile Zelle isn't supported by exactly one financial institution I use (but not one I use for banking).

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#454

Post by lmm »

Nextgrid wrote: post #231
Shoue wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both Monzo and Starling are good. If you're good at budgeting and never dip into negative balances I suggest getting a cashback or points credit card too, and then you can simply put your income into an instant savings account until you need it for the monthly direct debit to pay off your credit card and earn interest _and_ cashback/points.

Cashback is very low in Europe (thankfully) due to the interchange fees being capped by law. Frankly even in the US I personally wouldn’t bother using credit cards. The management overhead of maintaining one (you have to pay it off on time, have 2 balances to look at, etc) is IMO not worth the money.

What management overhead do you have to do? Set up a direct debit to pay off the balance in full every month (and set it to happen on the same day as your other bills, shortly after your paycheque comes in). Pay everything on the credit card, so that that's the only balance you have to check. Get on with your life, and enjoy either cashback or the occasional free flight.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#455

Post by andylynch »

thesimon wrote: post #380
kristianc wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not completely accurate. Revolut has a specialized banking license, which means they can offer a limited range but not investment banking services.

>Revolut has a specialized banking license Do you have more details on that? FCA only lists a e-money license.

Revolut also has a Lithuanian retail banking license. They were planning to become a UK bank as well but I haven’t seen anything about the recently.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#456

Post by mytailorisrich »

djmobley wrote: post #399
n4r9 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the London area, have a Revolut account and am aware of Monzo but have never heard of N26. I agree with the above poster that their advertising cannot have been very good.

Worth noting Revolut do not have a UK banking licence, and your funds with them are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

They have an EU bank licence and funds are thus protected under the EU-wide protection scheme.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#457

Post by mytailorisrich »

n4r9 wrote: post #285
mytailorisrich wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

N26 is not competitive in the UK, Brexit or no Brexit, judging by the numbers. There are more established competitors and N26 is struggling to take off.

I get the feeling that every time Brexit is cited as a factor causing a business to leave the UK, those who support Brexit will be able to point their fingers at all the other contributing factors and label Brexit a scapegoat. Sure, Brexit will usually be a contributing factor rather than the only obvious cause. Businesses that are doing well will manage to survive the Brexit hit. That doesn't make Brexit good or eve…

Please refrain from the tired personal attack that consists of 'accusing' people of supporting Brexit simply because they refuse to blindly buy that anything going badly is "because of Brexit".

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#458

Post by brazzy »

woodpanel wrote: post #345
rjzzleep wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the EU request the law to be adopted much earlier. The countries that blocked its early implementation were Germany and France.

The reason being a banking-sector that is deeply entangled with politics. When it comes to checking accounts co-op run banks have 26% marketshare in Germany, while statebanks and communal-run Sparkassen have 41% [0] Needless to say, they are not the most efficient and are even less prone for innovation. [0] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/38041/umfrage...

> Needless to say, they are not the most efficient and are even less prone for innovation.

I think the main problem is that both co-ops and Sparkassen are very decentralized, you're looking at literally thousands of tiny and not-so-tiny-but-hardly-big banks that are all completely independant. That makes innovation very slow - of course they have pooled resources to have a somewhat centralized IT infrastructure, but the power to decide on innovations is ultimately still with the thousands of member banks.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#459

Post by fuklief »

kweks wrote: post #432
Glawen wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

French banks are slow, but they provide good services. When i lived in the UK, i had only a debit card (maestro). If you wanted a mastercard you needed a credit card account where you needed to manually balance at the end of the month. Mind you this was 10 years ago, when the UK was Just introducing PIN code for every card transaction, a security feature found in France since the 90s. In France you get mastercard as…

A what card? Credit cards essentially do not exist in France. Traditional French banks have a penchant for issuing debit cards with monthly fees and low daily, weekly (!) and monthly (!) limits. I had a HSBC business account where I had to pay 45EU a month to lift the 300EU per week limitation. Likewise, French banks refuse to issue chargebacks. The last time I tried, I was told to lodge a police complaint for theft…

Credit card = Débit différé in France (aka. you pay for everything at the end of the month), it's even written Credit on the card.

And most online banks (e.g., Boursorama, Hello Bank, Fortuneo, etc) do not charge you a monthly fee for a card.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#460

Post by shrikant »

twic wrote: post #280
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)

Looking more broadly than just challenger banks: https://www.which.co.uk/money/banking/bank-accounts/best-and... Top of the list (as it often has been for decades) is First Direct. This is a challenger bank in its own way - it was launched in 1989 to pioneer telephone banking, a disruptive technology at the time! It now has phone and internet banking, but still has no physical branches. Monzo and Starling, the proper…

Just FYI -- First Direct is a part of HSBC and has been for nearly 30 years now, and isn't some scrappy little underdog. It's a bit baffling as to why HSBC itself features at 15th position in that same list you posted!

(Note: I don't use either)

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