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N26 will be leaving the UK

n26.com

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Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#401

Post by zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC »

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...

It's just that all co-op banks and Sparkassen have implemented SCT Inst (instant payment), while quite a few "commercial" banks have not (though the big two have). Though some of them do charge fees, some even outrageous fees, for the privilege of non-stone-age transfers (but then, others don't).

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#402

Post by zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC »

joshuaissac wrote: post #357
TulliusCicero wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people not move in Italy or something? I've encountered the same thing in Germany, when I log in I use the branch number of where we opened the account? Why? Who gives a shit about that? I certainly don't. But the bank does, for some unfathomable reason. For each way German banks are better than American ones, it seems like there's a way in which they're backwards or overly conservative.

Other than having to enter the branch number, are there are other restrictions based on where you opened the account in Germany? I ask because in the UK, each bank branch has a six-digit "sort code", which others will need to know in addition to your account number to transfer you money. However, you can open an account at a branch and never step foot in that branch again afterwards, only ever using other branches. A…

It's not even a thing "in Germany". There may be some banks that do this, but I would say most don't. But then, most banks are relatively regional, so while you can use any branch of the bank, there won't be any branches of your bank if you travel far enough--and if you are with your local Sparkasse, for example, then that is your bank, the Sparkasse in the next bigger city over has nothing to do with them (well, yeah, they have, but they most definitely are a separate bank).

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#403

Post by nottorp »

We are today a team of more than 1,500 unique talents of 80 nationalities, based across our offices in Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna, New York and São Paolo.

Looks easy for them to leave the UK. No offices there.

Anyone shutting down UK offices yet?

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#404

Post by zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC »

gigatexal wrote: post #186
Nursie wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdote time - the only person I know who had an account (I work in London fintech at the moment) never used it and only opened it for the fancy translucent card. He seems to have accounts with all the 'challenger' banks.

N26 is amazing. I use it daily in Germany as an expat

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/N26_(Direktbank)#Kritik

And in particular:

https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/33C3-Schwere-Sicherh...

Banks in general are terrible at IT security here, but N26 seems to be the particularly special completely and utterly incompetent kind of terrible.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#405

Post by zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC »

xioxox wrote: post #353
luckylion wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And "free" isn't exactly accurate either. It depends on the account you have, many have a flat rate or some (large) amount of transfers included, others charge per action. My impression is that banking is massively overpriced in Germany. I understand it's not trivial and "I can build that on a weekend", but I don't see the need to spend ~10 euros on the average checking account that has two dozens actions a month. Th…

Germany has huge numbers of banks compared to other countries and so the system is inefficient. In addition the low interest rates mean banks find it hard to make money. My previously free German account now costs some money.

> Germany has huge numbers of banks compared to other countries and so the system is inefficient.

That's not really true. While there is a huge number of banks, most of them are either co-op banks (Raiffeisen- and Volksbanken) or Sparkassen, and while they are all separate legal entities, all the banks from either of those groups run on their respective common infrastructure (Ficudia & GAD IT and Finanz Informatik).

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#406

Post by zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC »

Tomte wrote: post #143
felixfbecker wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SEPA transfers in Germany are both free and instant too. Not saying it's not a slow and manually run industry in general, but I have nothing to complain about transactions.

Next bank day is normal. "Instant" is only within a bank (sender and receiver customer of the same bank), and not even with every bank, and where it works that way, only relatively recently.

Instant (< 10 seconds) is at least possible, if not normal, between any two banks that support SCT Inst (which most do now).

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#407

Post by Nition »

alibarber wrote: post #216
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…

I didn't really understand why there were so many banking startups in the US until I found out that simple bank transfers cost money over there.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#408

Post by matthewheath »

riffraff wrote: post #315
alibarber wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transferwise's borderless account might also be worth a look too if you need to hold or regularly spend money in other currencies. I've moved the opposite way and have been quite happy with it.

Does TW have a banking license? I seem to recall they don't, so your money wouldn't be insured in the same way, or something like that.

If TransferWise were to fail, you would not be entitled to compensation (up to £85,000) from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) — this is a scheme that banks and building societies authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority sign up to and fund.

TransferWise is only registered with the Prudential Regulation Authority as an e-money service authorised to provide payment services. You can search the register at https://register.fca.org.uk.

In reality, they appear to hold the funds with Barclays so if TransferWise failed, you'd get the funds back. It's only if Barclays themselves became insolvent that you'd be out of pocket since you wouldn't be covered by the FSCS.

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#409

Post by matthewheath »

growse wrote: post #303
weddpros wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If they go bankrupt, you will lose all your money " is not entirely true, according to Monese's FAQ: https://support.monese.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115002002229-Is... "Unlike banks we do not re-invest customer funds and have to keep all customer money separate to our own company finances. We are required by Regulation to Safeguard all funds received from Monese customers. This guarantees that even in the unlikely even…

This assumes that no-one has criminally run off with the money, lost it down the back of the sofa etc. It's also not clear under what law their customer funds are not treated as company assets, in which case if they're bankrupt, the creditors get first dibs. The point of the FSCS is that it doesn't matter what happens to your bank . The government will pay you back up to £85k of what you had there. So while it's not…

> It's also not clear under what law their customer funds are not treated as company assets, in which case if they're bankrupt, the creditors get first dibs.

Insolvency events are covered by section 24 of Part 3 of the Electronic Money Regulations 2011.

"24. (1) Subject to paragraph (2), where there is an insolvency event—

(a) the claims of electronic money holders are to be paid from the asset pool in priority to all other creditors; and

(b) until all the claims of electronic money holders have been paid, no right of set-off or security right may be exercised in respect of the asset pool except to the extent that the right of set-off relates to fees and expenses in relation to operating an account held in accordance with regulation 21(2)(a) or (b) or 22(1)(b).

(2) The claims referred to in paragraph (1)(a) shall not be subject to the priority of expenses of an insolvency proceeding except in respect of the costs of distributing the asset pool."

So, these funds would be kept secure from other creditors and paid out as a priority.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/99/part/3/crosshead...

Re: N26 will be leaving the UK

#410

Post by xvilka »

Despite thinking Brexit was a mistake, this is indeed a chance for the UK to modernize and improve its financial and banking industry, to make it even more attractive for non-EU capital, and to make London an even more international city. Assuming there is a will for that. After all gov.uk initiative was a success and still continues to improve.
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