Digital bank N26 is to hire 200 staff this year as it surpasses the threshold of seven million customers in the UK and US.
The mobile-only bank says growth has been fuelled by the Coronavirus pandemic as people look for new ways to bank from home without ever visiting a branch.
The bank has added two million customers over the past year and this growth is reflected in transaction volumes, which have hit an all-time high, reaching over $5.5bn, monthly.
With the wind in its sails, N26 is preparing to expand beyond its subscription, core banking and payments business to offer new services in 2021, increasing its range of banking revenue streams.
This includes the introduction of a new N26 Marketplace, featuring products from complementary fintech startups, and upgrades to its suite of PFM and customer support products.
To meet its ambitions, the bank says that it will hire over 200 new staff this year, growing its team to 1700.
For all its lofty ambitions, N26, like other high-profile neo banks such as Monzo, is still struggling to show a profit, having posted operational losses of €217m in 2019. An expensive foray into the competitive UK market cost the bank €26 million, while the price for US market entry was put at €25 million. In a brief update to the company's 2020 financials, N26's core European business experienced a €110 million net loss.
N26 chief executive Valentin Stalf told Handelsblatt the losses were a product of investment as the bank expanded into new markets, and claimed that profitability was in sight for the end of 2021.
core Europe business accounting for around EUR 110 million net losses in 2020 (-33%).