Revolut-ish: Killer Features of the Most Competitive Neobanks You Might Not Know

Neobanks — these new players in the banking landscape — now have more than 3.5 million active accounts, having increased this number at 75% in one year. With the last new valuation, Revolut is considered to be number one, there is a significant list of those who provide similar and/or larger services and are more than competitive with this neogiant.

These are N26, Monese, Quppy, Bunq and Nickel: although still often unknown to the general public, neobanks are gaining more and more customers all around the world, upsetting the banking sector forced to adapt to this new competition Even three or four years ago, these young companies struggled to seduce outside the restricted and confidential circle of new technology enthusiasts.

The term "neobank" covers a whole range of new generation banking players, often coming from the digital world and determined to reinvent the use of traditional banking services. They propose an optimized experience to the clients, a simplified, transparent accessible online interface with all the popular services at a very low price or even for free (the so-called a "freemium" model: a basic offer which is certainly free but very limited, to which are added various optional and paid services).

Following the market, many young companies have to spend huge sums to win new customers and those who earn money are still counted on the fingers of one hand as the competition is high. The strongest and most adaptive to the clients’ needs survive. Thus, Monese claims more than one million of clients in 30 countries or N26 - five million in 24 countries.

While Revolut tries to keep its king of the jungle status with 10 times cheaper fees for international transfers, instant balance notifications, easy-to-understand expenses analytics and recurring payments, what killer features do its younger competitors have?

N26

Founded in 2013 by Valentin STALF and Maximilian TAYHENTHAL, the start-up was launched on the German market in 2015. Number 26 in the company name stands for the number of smaller cubes in a complete Rubik’s Cube. Their ambition is to create a 100% mobile bank much cooler than traditional banks. N26 was very quickly successful and spread to other European countries in 2016. In the beginning of 2019, N26 had 2.3 million users. The ambitions of N26 include becoming not only a 100% mobile bank but a complete bank. N26 is thus preparing to compete head-on with traditional banks.

Special features:

• setting your own limits,
• reward program (US market)

Monzo

Smartphone app only, this UK service has one of the best rates on both domestic and international markets and performs one of the most impressive domain customer scores (around 86%).

Special features:

• splitting bills,
• tracking expenses,
• blocking unfavorable financial habits like gambling.

Quppy

Established in Estonia in early 2018 and later in Cyprus and Italy, the Quppy payment platform offers its customers all types of financial operations. The Quppy unique feature is a multicurrency IBAN opening in just 5 minutes. Among its outstanding features is a mobile phone top-up, gift cards purchase and p2p lending opportunity. Despite its quite a short history, Quppy is already significantly present in Europe and Latin America.

Special features:

• the only truly multicurrency IBAN on the market,
• consolidating features,
• in-app mobile, service and gift cards purchase.

Bunq

Founded in 2012 in the Netherlands by Ali NIKNAM, Bunq offers a similar range of services as N26 and Revolut. It has been gaining mostly European clients since 2014.

Special features:

• transaction tracking in real time,
• travel debit card,
• 10 free ATM withdrawals per month (premium account only).

Nickel

Founded in France in 2012 by Ryad BOULANOUAR and Hugues le BRET, Nickel is a real alternative to the traditional bank account. It is primarily intended for banking bans and people with very low incomes. The great thing about Nickel and what makes it so strong is its distribution method: you can open an account with the nearest tobacconist in just a few minutes. In 2017, Nickel was 95% bought by BNP Paribas but retained a certain independence as the original management team remained in place.

Special features:

• blocking and unblocking your card in the app,
• sending your PIN via SMS,
• setting and changing personal expenses limits.

Image courtesy of Australian Fintech