BaFin imposes EUR 9.2 million fine on N26

The financial regulator imposed the fine on N26 following the discovery that, in 2022, the digital bank has systematically been late in providing reports on suspected money laundering. As credit institutions are required to submit a report to the Financial Intelligence Unit if they suspect any transactions have the potential to be related to money laundering or terrorist financing, the regulator found that N26 did not file its reports on time.

In addition, the reports should have been submitted so that the regulator could take the necessary action promptly if required. Following BaFin’s announcement, N26 stated that in the year following 2022, the digital bank implemented several measures to enhance reporting processes and invested more than EUR 80 million to fully comply with the standards in mitigating financial crime and money laundering. On its website, the bank mentioned that it made sufficient provision for the fine, with the bank continuing its close cooperation with the supervisory authorities.

N26 is not the only financial institution fined by BaFin due to regulation breaches, with the supervisor demanding Commerzbank pay a fine of EUR 1.45 million over AML issues. The move followed Commerzbank AG and the former comdirect Bank AG’s breach of supervisory duties, with the bank not updating its customer data on time and not providing appropriate security measures. Shortly after, Commerzbank stated that it reworked its due diligence and updated customer data after the comdirect acquisition.

In a bid to expand its operations and capabilities, in April 2024, N26 announced its joint account offering in Ireland, available to all customers, including those leveraging its free N26 standard service. Customers were enabled to set up one joint account, with the maximum number of users on a joint account being two. Through this, customers can manage their personal and shared finances more efficiently within the N26 app, while also building financial habits and working towards the same financial goals together. The accounts were set to carry a specific IBAN and could be linked to personal virtual and physical cards within the app. At the time of the announcement, the service was introduced in 21 different markets in which N26 provides its services.

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