Neobank bunq has achieved its first full year of net profitability, recording a profit of 53.1 million euros in 2023. It will use that money to propel its global expansion strategy and has submitted an application for an E-Money Institution license in the United Kingdom, the bank said on Tuesday.
“The UK is home to the second-highest number of digital nomads globally, so naturally, we want to be there,” said bunq founder and CEO Ali Niknam. “We want to truly make their life easy. That’s why we’re excited to reintroduce bunq to the Brits and enable them to bank like a local all across Europe.”
Bunq already has UK users acquired before Brexit and is excited to offer its services to the rest of the country. The bank sees a large market to tap into, including an estimated 2.8 million British digital nomads. “As a bridge between Europe and the rest of the world, the UK is at the forefront of European fintech and a hugely important market for bunq. As a true tech company, it only makes sense for us to pursue this market,” Niknam said.
According to bunq, it is the second most profitable neobank in Europe and one of the first to achieve structural profitability. Its client base grew to 11 million at the end of 2023.
In the last quarter of last year, bunq’s gross fee income grew by 20 percent compared to a year earlier. Its deposits grew from 1.8 billion euros to nearly 7 billion euros in that same period. And its gross interest income was 488 percent higher in Q4 of 2023 than in the same quarter in 2022.
