Fast-growing digital bank\u00a0N26\u00a0is weighing up plans to establish an Irish operation that could employ up to 100 people.<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Irish Times, co-founder and co-chief executive\u00a0Maximilian Tayenthal\u00a0also said the fintech intends to roll out more services to its customers here, including crypto trading.<\/p>\n
Berlin-based N26 was valued at more than $9 billion last month following a $900 million Series E funding round. It has about 7 million customers globally, including 200,000 in the Republic of\u00a0Ireland.<\/p>\n
Following recent talks with T\u00e1naiste\u00a0Leo Varadkar\u00a0in\u00a0Berlin, at which he pressed the case for N26 establishing a talent hub in Ireland, Mr Tayenthal said the company was exploring the idea.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the fringes of Web Summit in\u00a0Lisbon, he said the company intends to take on at least 1,000 new employees following the fundraise and that it is keen to see some of them based in the Republic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe Ireland could be a great ecosystem for us,\u201d he said, noting the presence of a large number of tech companies here and access to talent.<\/p>\n
Pressed on how many people the company might employ, locally Mr Tayenthal said: \u201cif it is 50, good, if it\u2019s 100, great\u201d.<\/p>\n
N26 already employs 50 Irish people across the company, including\u00a0Adrienne Gormley, who became its chief operating officer in September 2020.<\/p>\n
N26 is in 25 markets at present and will shortly launch in\u00a0Brazil. It has 1,500 staff globally. The company has raised close to $1.8 billion from investors since it was founded by Mr Tayenthal and\u00a0Valentin Stalf\u00a0in 2013.<\/p>\n
The company recently began offering insurance products for Irish customers, allowing them to purchase coverage, manage plans and initiate claims from different providers from within its mobile app.<\/p>\n
Mr Tayenthal said trading was another area in which N26 was expanding, including crypto trades.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe very much believe the only way to build up a certain level of wealth for customers in by investing in public markets. We entered banking because it was dominated by old-fashioned institutions who did not provide a good experience and charged high rates, and the same is true for trading. It is holding back people from investing. In\u00a0Germany, for example, less than 10 per cent of people actually hold stocks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney is sitting in savings accounts with negative interest rates attached to them. Offering a good experience could change that with more people investing instead,\u201d Mr Tayenthal added.<\/p>\n
N26 is expected to go public soon with Mr Tayenthal saying it has been preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) for some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not defined the exact point in time but in a year\u2019s time we will be structurally ready and from then it will be one of the strategic options we have. \u201cWhat sets N26 apart is that we have this huge vision of building a global financial institution, which will take many years and massive amounts of capital. So at some point, going public will be the most effective way of realising this,\u201d Mr Tayenthal added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Co-chief executive Maximilian Tayenthal also plans to roll out additional services here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","category-economy","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n