bunq press
We’re bunq, Bank of The Free.
We’re a totally independent bank that makes your life easy. No branch visits, no queues, no paperwork, just immediate access from a mobile device. Users can share bank accounts with whomever they want and pay with worldwide Maestro and Mastercards wherever they go.
bunq was founded in 2012 by Ali Niknam (1981), who managed to get the first European banking permit in over 35 years. He set out to radically change the traditional banking industry and, as its sole investor, invested €79,9m in bunq. bunq’s latest publicly available number of user deposits is €654,619,033, based on the deposits in July 2020.
Over 2019 the total amount of user deposits doubled and is increasing every day. bunq is currently available in 30 European markets: the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Ireland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romainia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Norway and Iceland.
2015
Public launch bunq
€654,619,033
User deposits
*as of July 2020

Our people
Ali
Founder and CEO
Ali Niknam (1981), born in Canada but from Iranian descent, set up his first company when he was just 16 years old. In his early twenties he founded TransIP, the biggest domain name and web hosting provider of the Netherlands. In 2012 he set out to change the banking industry radically and founded bunq.

Idzard
CRO
Idzard van Eeghen (1960) is the Chief Risk Officer. Idzard has extensive banking experience and has held various commercial, risk management and general management positions. He joined bunq in May 2018.

Latest press releases
bunq continues its global expansion and launches in all EU-countries
Amsterdam, September 24th 2019
bunq continues its rapid growth by expanding to all European Union markets. Following successful launches in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium, European challenger bank bunq is now available in every European country. As of today, customers in 30 countries are able to subscribe to the bunq Travel Card plan.
“We’re extremely excited to launch Travel Card all across Europe. By offering the best card to travel the world, European travellers can now always pay the real exchange rate and enjoy the benefits of a credit card without the burden of debt. Without any monthly fees”, says founder and CEO Ali Niknam.
By calculating the true exchange rate on purchases in foreign currencies, bunq Travel Card sets itself apart from other banks’ credit card offerings, resulting in savings of up to 3% for its customers. These savings can be significant for those travelling outside of the eurozone. Furthermore, Travel Card enjoys excellent acceptance as it is a true credit card, which allows it to be used for hotels and rental services. The Mastercard credit card allows users to use these services, without the risk of overdraft. For a one time fee, users can subscribe to the bunq Travel Card plan without any monthly costs.
bunq is seen as part of the 4 biggest European challengers, together with N26, Revolut, and Monzo, that are building the bank of the future. bunq is the first of the European challenger banks to introduce a credit card. By officially launching in Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and non-EU countries Norway and Iceland, bunq is now active in 30 European markets.
bunq introduces bunq Travel Card: the best card to travel the world
Amsterdam, June 6th 2019
European challenger bank bunq sets its eyes on European international travellers and introduces bunq Travel Card: the best card to travel the world. Users that subscribe to the newly introduced plan receive a bunq Travel Card, without any monthly costs. The bunq Travel Card is tailored to individuals who want to enjoy the benefits of a credit card without the burden of debt. When travelling internationally, there are a lot of services that only accept credit cards such as hotels and car rental services. The Mastercard credit card allows users to use these services, without the risk of overdraft.
bunq caters to the 618 million international departures in Europe on a yearly basis, making Europe the world’s largest source for outbound travels. The bunq Travel Card gives these users the ability to use services that require a credit card verification number such as hotels, car rentals and unattended patrol stations. bunq gratifies their wanderlust while fulfilling their anti-debt mindset with this newly introduced free tier plan, since traditional overdrafts are disabled on the card.
“The bunq Travel Card is the best card to travel the world, because it enables our users to travel debt-free, without any risks of overdrafts. Besides, they pay the real exchange rate when paying in foreign currencies and they will always be in control thanks to our unique security features”, says founder and CEO Ali Niknam.
Transparency lies at the heart of the bunq Travel Card. Thanks to bunq ZeroFX users get the real exchange rate when making purchases in foreign currencies on their holiday, on weekdays as well as on weekends. This sets bunq apart from other banks and credit card providers that do charge additional mark-up fees. Additionally, security plays an important part. Everything can be managed on the go: users can manage their card limits, their CVC security codes and freeze their card, all directly from the app.
bunq is seen as part of the 4 biggest European challengers, together with N26, Revolut, and Monzo, that are building the bank of the future. bunq is the first of the European challenger banks to introduce a credit card.
For a one time fee of €9,99 users can subscribe to the bunq Travel Card and make payments online and offline and send money requests without any monthly costs. Users will pay €0,99 per cash withdrawal.
bunq partners up with TransferWise
Amsterdam, 6 November 2018
bunq is the first Dutch bank to partner up with TransferWise, allowing users to send money in 15 currencies straight from their bunq app. Tonight at bunq Update #9 the bank also introduces Zero FX®
bunq & TransferWise: sending money abroad at the real exchange rate
Independent research has shown that by partnering with TransferWise, bunq will become up to 8 times cheaper overnight than its biggest competitors. bunq users will be told upfront how much they’re charged to send money abroad. The two companies are committed to introducing transparency in an industry where hidden fees are commonplace.
“Our mission is to free our users from borders and barriers in traditional banking, such as hidden fees. We think TransferWise is a valuable addition to solidify that mission. This is the next big step in bringing freedom to the traditional banking industry”, said founder and CEO Ali Niknam.
ZeroFX®: no foreign transaction fees on purchases outside the Eurozone
bunq is the first bank to not charge any foreign transaction fees (FX fees) on purchases outside the Eurozone. Where other financial institutions charge FX fees on card transactions in foreign currencies, bunq will only charge the final exchange rate to their users.
Invoice scanning: simply scan & pay invoices
Tonight bunq introduces Invoice scanning. bunq users can now simply scan and pay invoices without filling out payment details manually. Where other banks automatically generate a payment or limit their service to accept giros invoices, bunq lets you scan any type of invoice and automatically generates a payment in the app.
bunq is first in the world to introduce freedom of choice for bank deposits
Amsterdam, October 25th 2018
bunq announces a first in financial services: the freedom to let customers choose where their deposits are held, and how they are used. Starting today, users can choose whether they would like their funds deposited with the European Central Bank (ECB) or be used for different purposes. This launch is the result of a growing demand within bunq's online community to do something with retained user funds.
“Freedom of choice is very important to us and we’re on a mission to change the relationship that people have with their money. No other bank in the world lets you choose what happens with your money. This makes bunq a world’s first!” says founder and CEO Ali Niknam.
Until now bunq held almost all of its customers’ funds at the European Central Bank. From now on there will be a list menu in the bunq app with which users can indicate whether they are receptive to other banking products like for example mortgages or loans. In all situations, deposited funds are insured by the Deposit Guarantee Scheme, as is the case with every other bank, up to €100.000,-.
“In what shape or form we’ll offer a new product, hasn’t been determined yet. I look forward to all the ideas that will arise from our community. For us it’s most important that freedom of choice for our users remains at the center of it all,” says Niknam.
Featured news
TechCrunch
TransferWise partners with Dutch challenger bank bunq. This is the next big step in bringing freedom to the traditional banking industry.
bunq and President Obama
Ali Niknam and president Obama speak at the Forward Thinking Leadership Conference at AFAS Live.
L’Usine Digitale
Néobanque bunq launches in France. Its founder, Ali Niknam, advocates user happiness above all.
AlexiBexi
bunq launches Apple Pay in Germany and is the only bank that offers support for Maestro as well as Mastercard, so German users can pay anywhere with their Apple device.
Financieel Dagblad
bunq is the first bank to open up its public API and takes the lead on the introduction of the European open payment standard psd2.
bunq Updates
Major features and releases are introduced at bunq Updates. All to make our users' lives easy. Check out what bunq Update 15 brought, below.
Press kit
You can download images of our people, apps, logos, cards, and colour codes from our press kit. Please read the Readme doc before using our design assets.

Contact
Email for press purposes only
press@bunq.com