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The comments here are odd. N26 isn't making any political statements. They're just saying they don't want to apply for a UK banking licence now that they can't

The comments here are odd. N26 isn't making any political statements. They're just saying they don't want to apply for a UK banking licence now that they can't use an EU one. The response "they're only doing this because they can't make enough money in the UK" seems kind of vacuous. Of course that's why they're doing it. The cost of requiring a UK licence outweighs the benefit of being there. There seems to be some sort of desire to say "Brexit didn't cause this". It's pretty clear it did because they could previously operate without a UK licence and now they can't and it doesn't cost low enough to be worth it for them. I don't think it matters in the big scale since there's Monzo and Starling, but having the EU fracture will be annoying since markets will fracture. As for the criticisms of starting in the UK post the Brexit vote, I don't understand if you guys have run businesses before, but you have to take risks. Things can change, and for the right growth opportunity you go for it. As an example, post-GDPR I set up the European arm of our data business, and even though Brexit was on the horizon, we set up in London. Why? Because the opportunity was big enough and we could work our way to a solution in time that would meet what we needed and because (being entirely Anglophone) establishing a bridgehead in the UK made sense. It's a successful business now and we have teams in mainland Europe now. It's like running towards one of those closing doors so that you can slide under it like a hero. You don't want to be trapped under the door, but sometimes what's on the other side of the door is worth the risk.

crusso 7y ago
There seems to be some sort of desire to say "Brexit didn't cause this" You can look at it from the other side too, ie. why is this the top story on Hacker News? This isn't even a mildly interesting technology, development, startup, or hacker article - but a bunch of people saw something that could be blamed on Brexit so they hit the upvote button.
- scarejunba 7y ago
  I'm sure there's quite some "Brexit is bad" piling on, which is silly since this is a small company. I did find it interesting to note that they wouldn't harmonize EU banking licences as valid in the UK or grandfather them in or something. I haven't lived in the UK for a few years now so I was surprised since the last time I voted there I recall minimizing disruption was a goal. Found it interesting on that note. If I were setting up an international business I'd surely do more research than just going off random press releases on HN but it's useful to get the mood of businesses.
- greatpatton 7y ago
  Really N26 is the leading virtual bank in Europe. So I hope that by that same standard we stop to hear about PayPal, square or any other US/rest of the world fintech companies....
barnabee 7y ago
It’s not so much “Brexit didn’t cause this” as it is hard to believe that’s the main reason their business failed in the UK (make no mistake, that is what they are admitting, whatever the reason). The comments are quite reasonably identifying that their statement is conveniently burying the real news with an excuse that will surely be easy to swallow in their home country. Brexit is bad but that isn’t the news here. I’m sure we’ll see plenty more of this.
- scarejunba 7y ago
  It certainly doesn't look like they're burying anything to me. The official media statement squarely accepts the inability to serve as an N26 problem: > While we fully respect the decision that has been taken, it means that N26 will in due course be unable to serve our customers in the UK and will have to leave the market And having some part of the business fail is not some sort of moral failing you have to hide or which they're even attempting to. The rest of their statement makes it clear that considering their growth and number of users it doesn't make sense for them to get a UK licence, i.e. this isn't feasible for them. I think people are interpreting "We can't do this because Brexit has made this infeasible for us" as "We'd have succeeded if it weren't for Brexit" when it seems quite obvious to me that the trivial interpretation is "Brexit moved us from feasible to infeasible" which just means they were envisioning less in the future than the Brexit-costs would impose and makes no implication really about the width of that Brexit cost boundary. After all, they're still in the US and you need a local licence.
- imtringued 7y ago
  You're making the assumption that they care about the UK market. If they don't, then leaving the UK market is not a failure.

crusso 7y ago

There seems to be some sort of desire to say "Brexit didn't cause this" You can look at it from the other side too, ie. why is this the top story on Hacker News? This isn't even a mildly interesting technology, development, startup, or hacker article - but a bunch of people saw something that could be blamed on Brexit so they hit the upvote button.

scarejunba 7y ago
I'm sure there's quite some "Brexit is bad" piling on, which is silly since this is a small company. I did find it interesting to note that they wouldn't harmonize EU banking licences as valid in the UK or grandfather them in or something. I haven't lived in the UK for a few years now so I was surprised since the last time I voted there I recall minimizing disruption was a goal. Found it interesting on that note. If I were setting up an international business I'd surely do more research than just going off random press releases on HN but it's useful to get the mood of businesses.
greatpatton 7y ago
Really N26 is the leading virtual bank in Europe. So I hope that by that same standard we stop to hear about PayPal, square or any other US/rest of the world fintech companies....

barnabee 7y ago

It’s not so much “Brexit didn’t cause this” as it is hard to believe that’s the main reason their business failed in the UK (make no mistake, that is what they are admitting, whatever the reason). The comments are quite reasonably identifying that their statement is conveniently burying the real news with an excuse that will surely be easy to swallow in their home country. Brexit is bad but that isn’t the news here. I’m sure we’ll see plenty more of this.

scarejunba 7y ago
It certainly doesn't look like they're burying anything to me. The official media statement squarely accepts the inability to serve as an N26 problem: > While we fully respect the decision that has been taken, it means that N26 will in due course be unable to serve our customers in the UK and will have to leave the market And having some part of the business fail is not some sort of moral failing you have to hide or which they're even attempting to. The rest of their statement makes it clear that considering their growth and number of users it doesn't make sense for them to get a UK licence, i.e. this isn't feasible for them. I think people are interpreting "We can't do this because Brexit has made this infeasible for us" as "We'd have succeeded if it weren't for Brexit" when it seems quite obvious to me that the trivial interpretation is "Brexit moved us from feasible to infeasible" which just means they were envisioning less in the future than the Brexit-costs would impose and makes no implication really about the width of that Brexit cost boundary. After all, they're still in the US and you need a local licence.
imtringued 7y ago
You're making the assumption that they care about the UK market. If they don't, then leaving the UK market is not a failure.