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bunq

Company type	Besloten vennootschap B.V.
Industry	Financial technology
Founded	2012; 12 years ago (2012)
Founder	Ali Niknam
Headquarters	Amsterdam , Netherlands
Products	Current accounts, Savings accounts, Debit cards, Mortgages
Number of employees	201-500 (2024)[1]
Website	www.bunq.com

bunq (English: /bʌŋk/,^[2] Dutch: [bʏŋk];^[3] stylized in all lowercase), is a Dutch fintech and neobank licensed in the Netherlands within the European Union and operating in 30 European countries.^[4][5][6][7] It is colloquially named bunq — bank of The Free and was founded in Amsterdam where its headquarters are located.^[8]

The company was founded in 2012 by Dutch-Canadian entrepreneur Ali Niknam,^[9] who previously founded web hosting provider TransIP and Team.Blue.^[10][11][12]

Much of bunq's early history is documented in the book BreakThrough Banking^[13] by Dutch author Siebe Huizinga.^[14]

According to BreakThrough Banking, much of bunq's early efforts went toward obtaining a European banking license from ‘De Nederlandsche Bank’, the central bank of the Netherlands. In 2014, bunq received a banking license from the Dutch central bank,^[15] after which the company launched its bunq app and became the first fully mobile Dutch bank.^[16][17]

Niknam has stated in interviews that “bunq is the only bank built by coders”.^[18] This seems to have resonated in bunq's early public perception, as the bank was frequently labeled “an IT company with a banking license”.^[19][20][21] At its launch in 2015, bunq was coined “WhatsApp for Banking” by Dutch newspaper NRC,^[22] further underscoring its product and technology-focused banking model as an alternative to traditional ones.^[23][24]

As of 2019, bunq had been offering mobile financial services in 30 European countries.^[25] In the early 2020s, bunq began offering multiple currencies and IBANs on a single subscription, regardless of the account holder’s location or residency.^[26] Unlike other European neobanks, bunq has not disclosed how many people have an account with the company.^[27] In 2021, user deposits surpassed 1.2 billion euros.^[28][29] This figure increased to €4.5 billion by early 2024, as reported by bunq.^[30]

Bunq offers personal and business bank accounts and a public API that allows software developers to access their bank accounts programmatically and build their apps.^[31][32][33] By 2021, bunq became the first digital bank to offer mortgages.^[34][35][36] As a licensed bank, bunq account holders fall under the Deposit Guarantee Scheme of the European Central Bank.^[37][38][39]

Founder Ali Niknam was bunq’s sole benefactor until 2021, having invested over 120 million euros into the company.^[40] In 2021, bunq secured the largest Series A round for a European fintech company to date, bringing its valuation to 1.6 billion euros and granting it unicorn status.^[40][41][42] Later that year, it was valued at $2 billion in an investment deal.^[43]

In March 2022, bunq's CEO announced a creation of a special fund aimed to help refugees from Ukraine (resulted after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022) to come to the Netherlands. Bunq also stated that it would provide Ukrainian refugees with free bunq bank accounts.^[44][45][46]

In May 2022, bunq announced that they had acquired the Belgium-based fintech organisation Tricount. This acquisition saw bunq become the second largest neobank in the European Union.^[47]

In October 2022, bunq won a landmark court case against the Dutch Central Bank. bunq had taken the DNB to court over the central bank’s anti-money laundering (AML) policies. The court ruled in favor of bunq using a learning system based on Artificial Intelligence, rather than a rule-based system imposed by DNB. The ruling made it possible for other banks to modernize their own AML strategies as well.^[48][49]

Bunq’s European user base reached 11 million at the end of 2023. Bunq has faced some concerns regarding security and customer support.^[50][51] Reports from Dutch consumer platforms like Kassa and NOS highlighted that bunq’s ease of account setup and innovative features can sometimes attract fraud attempts. While bunq offers in-app chat support instead of phone lines to prevent phishing, some customers have experienced delays in getting assistance during urgent fraud cases. In response to specific incidents, bunq has taken steps to improve security and even compensated certain victims as a gesture of goodwill, though it emphasizes the importance of customer responsibility in preventing fraud.^[52] In June 2024, Bunq enters partnerships with Mastercard and Nvidia. This collaboration leverages Mastercard’s Open Banking platform, enabling users to integrate accounts from various banks into the bunq app.^{[53][54][55][56]}