CEO of digital bank Bunq pledges to expand in Ireland

The chief executive of the Dutch-owned digital bank Bunq said he plans to expand in Ireland, but added it may have missed the most opportune time to do so.

Speaking at the Web Summit in Lisbon, CEO Ali Niknam said the sweet spot for Bunq was when Ulster Bank and KBC had first halted banking operations in the Republic, but that the local market was still on his radar. 

“We have looked at the Irish market and it’s very interesting because it’s very underserved,” said Mr Niknam. 

“When Ulster Bank pulled out we kind of missed that opportunity because we were too slow to respond,” he said.  

Bunq launched operations last year by offering Irish banking account services, including personal accounts, but the specific details of Mr Niknam’s expansion plans here remain unclear. 

The decision by Ulster Bank, along with KBC, to pull out has further reduced competition and brought to the surface problems over technology at some lenders. For decades, the competition regulator has warned about the concentrated nature of the Irish banking market.

Bunq bought CapitalFlow, a Dublin-based business lender that works with small firms and property investors. Last year it provided customers Irish-based International Bank Account Numbers for the first time. Mr Niknam said he was committed to CapitalFlow. 

There were regulatory obstacles restricting the growth of new financial services firms in Europe, said Mr Niknam, who had set up Bunq in 2012.

“Regulation is obviously meant to protect people but some of the regulation needs some updating because it was made in a world that is very different to the world that is here today,” he said.

He urged the authorities to encourage eurozone-wide banking services, similar to those in the US. “Local regulators interpret the same rules and regulations from one country to another, which is a shame really because consumers end up paying the price for it,” he said.

Mr Niknam acknowledged that the collapse of the German-based payments giant Wirecard had sowed distrust.

The Bunq founder said he had attended the Lisbon trade show despite the withdrawal of some large tech firms following comments made by major Web Summit shareholder Paddy Cosgrave about the Hamas-Israeli war.  

“I think one of the most firm pillars of democracy is always freedom of speech,” Mr Niknam
said. The summit this week has attracted around 70,235 guests from 153 countries.