Europe’s second largest neobank joins rush for US banking licence
Europe’s second biggest digital bank has become the latest fintech aiming to capitalise on President Donald Trump’s deregulation agenda after filing for a US banking licence.
Bunq has set its sights on the US after lodging an application for a national charter to operate as a bank with a US Treasury Bureau.
The Dutch challenger bank – which reached 20 million users towards the end of last year in just a decade – turned its attention to the US after bagging a broker-deal licence last year, which allowed it to bring its stock trade offering to users in America.
The firm said after receiving the greenlight for brokering it intended to push for a full licence as soon as possible.
Bunq recorded its second consecutive year of profit at €85.3m (£63m) for the 2024 financial year, marking 64 per cent growth. Interest income serves as the main driver after near doubling to €245.3m.
The move marks the latest sign of the company’s expansion after it re-launched operations in the UK in late 2023.
Fintechs leap on Trump’s deregulation
Bunq joins the growing list of fintech firms turning to the US as Trump rows back on regulation.
In December, payments giant Paypal said it had lodged an application for a UK licence to help bolster its small business lending capacity, after providing over $30bn in loans and working capitals to business accounts since 2013.
This followed Brazilian fintech Nubank and crypto giant Coinbase, who each lodged their applications for US banking charters in 2025 in a bid to seize the Trump administration’s reforms.
Trump enacted a sweeping change to the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which was enacted after the financial crisis to boost financial stability and increase accountability, as well as the Consumer Protection Act of the same year.
The reformed hiked the primary asset threshold at which firms face tougher prudential standards to $250bn from $50bn previously, meaning fewer companies were subject to stringent standards.
They also eased the ‘Volcker Rules’ for lenders with assets of less than $10bn, meaning banks were less restricted from certain speculative investments.
Last year Starling’s finance boss Declan Ferguson said the neobank was “inclined towards acquisition” as it looked to pursue a US licence.