Following this announcement, the neobank will focus on its European expansion, as it submitted an application for an E-Money Institution (EMI) license in the region of the UK. This step is expected to provide the financial institution with the possibility to tap into a large market that includes an estimated 2.8 million British digital nomads and individuals.
bunq will continue to offer its solutions in order to serve its UK-based users acquired before Brexit under relevant regimes. This process will enable clients to open a local payment account in a secure and efficient manner as well. In addition, the company will focus on meeting the needs, preferences, and demands of its customers while remaining compliant with the laws and regulations of the local industry.
The neobank had multiple partnerships, raises, and product launches in the last couple of months, covering several different geographic areas around the world.
In December 2023, the financial institutions announced the launch of its GenAI-drive platform Finn, developed in order to optimise the user-centric banking experience. By replacing the search function on the application, Finn aimed to enable customers and clients to plan their finances, improve their budget management processes, find transactions securely, and navigate the application efficiently, as well as access other features.
According to the official press release published at the time, Finn represented bunq’s own technology and software, using LLMs as well. The product was set to be familiar to anyone who used OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The tool also had a chat-style text box where clients were enabled to ask questions or seek advice about their bank account, savings, and spending habits, as well as anything related to money.
Earlier in July 2023, bunq secured an additional EUR 44.5 million in growth capital, bringing the total capital received by the company during the year to almost EUR 100 million. The capital was expected to enable the neobank to further expedite its overall international expansion, as well as continue its development process.
The investors included Ali Niknam, Pollen Street Capital, and Raymond Kasiman, which joined the funding round and aimed to be committed to an investment valuation of EUR 1.65 billion, despite the 2023 market downturn.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now