Bunq Hopes to Bring EU Neobanking to the US

European neobank Bunq has applied to bring its business to “digital nomads” in the U.S.

The company announced Wednesday (April 4) that it had applied for a New York banking license with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).

After nearly a decade of operating in Europe, Bunq wants to target “a community of almost 5 million digital nomads — expats, international entrepreneurs, and professionals working remotely — who are EU or US citizens with deep ties on both sides of the Atlantic,” the company said in a news release.

Launched in 2012, Bunq is the second largest neobank in the European Union (EU) next to Revolut, a status it achieved last year following the acquisition of Belgian FinTech TriCount, which brought the company 5.4 million new users. Now, the company said it is hoping to reach the 4.9 million EU ex-patriots living in the U.S.

“As more and more Europeans are met with complexity and lack of transparency when it comes to access to financial services in America, Bunq is poised to give its users in the US a product tailored to their wants and needs,” the release said.

As PYMNTS wrote in February, Bunq’s reach has expanded beyond its native Netherlands and is now available in every EU country, along with Norway and Iceland.

However, that report notes that while companies like Revolut and Bunq have expanded across the continent, turning users into sustainable revenues has been difficult.

As noted here, under 10% of consumers use FinTechs as their primary bank account, and traditional banks still hold a large place in the market when it comes to more profitable services such as mortgages and consumer lending.

Among the consumers who have chosen to use neobanks, research by PYMNTS and Ingo Money has found that convenience is the fact they value the most, something cited by 55% of the people surveyed. Speed was a very close second, mentioned by 54% of the consumers.

As for security, that was listed as a reason for consideration by 19% of users. However, for consumers that don’t want to use neobanks and prefer traditional banks, security was the reason they’ve chosen to avoid digital-only operations, cited by 39% of those consumers.

“Speed is nice, convenience, too,” PYMNTS wrote recently. “But as we saw in the bank runs that have bedeviled the sector in the few short weeks since Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, there may be something to be said for having physical branches, a human presence, and some reassurance in the mix during hectic times.”