The billion-dollar German-Austrian neobank N26 still has deficits in money laundering prevention. In contrast, co-chief executive Maximilian Tayenthal now declares two other areas to be problem-free.
N26 continues to need help in the fight against money laundering. Therefore, German financial regulator Bafin has extended and partially specified conditions against the Berlin-based smartphone bank that have been in place since 2021. N26 “still has deficits in its systems for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, despite some progress,” Bafin said.
It said N26 must take and maintain adequate technical-organizational and personnel measures “to ensure proper business organization and to be able to meet its legal obligations consistently.”
According to Bafin, there are deficiencies, particularly in reporting suspected money laundering cases to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Here, N26 needs to establish sufficient electronic monitoring, “build an adequate quality assurance function and establish effective outsourcing controls.”
“To reduce risk,” the financial regulator is extending the growth limit of 50,000 new customers per month, which has been in place since November 2021. The particular representative appointed in May 2021 to oversee the remediation of the deficiencies also remains installed.
