Making Life Easy: bunq and Barzahlen Digitalize Cash

Here at bunq we’re a big fan of going digital. However, a lot of users let us know that they still like to use cash in their daily lives. We’ve noticed that our users around Germany or Austria, specifically needed a solution for depositing and withdrawing cash without the classic, outdated process: physical cards, finding the right ATM, and all that jazz.

To make this practice - and your life - easier, precisely one year ago, we partnered with Barzahlen (also known as viacash), with its largest bank-independent payment infrastructure in Europe. This partnership lets you handle your cash money in a modern and digital way. By introducing cash straight into the bunq app, mobile banking really is limitless.

“Our partnership is based on similar values - just like bunq, Barzahlen aims to make their customers’ lives easier every day by giving them the freedom to manage their money the way they want. We are glad to have Barzahlen as our trusted partner and I’m very excited to find out what the future of this partnership holds for both of us!”, Ali Niknam, Founder and CEO of bunq.

Since we implemented this new solution, we’ve seen a 340% increase in payments made through this feature!

The way it works is very simple!

• If you live in (or visit) Germany or Austria, you’ll get an option in the bunq app called “Withdraw & Deposit”.

• Once you choose that, you get to pick one of the many locations nearby that Barzahlen partnered with, like REWE, ROSSMANN, dm, BILLA, BIPA, and many more.

• Head there, select the amount you want to withdraw or deposit, and the app will give you a unique code.

• Once this code is scanned at your selected location, the amount will instantly be withdrawn or deposited to the preferred account.

That’s it! Absolutely no need for cards, ATMs, or time-wasting!

We’ve asked Barzahlen’s CEO Sebastian Seifert to tell us how they feel about our partnership, now that we’re celebrating our 1 year anniversary:

"For a year now, we have been offering bunq customers the opportunity to deposit and withdraw cash conveniently and securely in our European-wide retail partner network of >16.000 locations. We combine the mobile-first approach with cash payments and thereby allow bunq users to only use their smartphone to deposit or withdraw cash – Like ApplePay for cash. The result: bunq as a fully digital bank, allowing their customers to also fully digitalize their cash reserves or conveniently get cash fully integrated in their daily life and routine at one of our retail chains around the corner. We are looking forward to the next years of this great partnership and to further enhance the value offering for bunq customers!”