N26 reportedly cuts 15% of Brazilian workforce
Digital bank N26 has reportedly laid off 15% of its Brazilian workforce – around 20 people – according to local news outlet Estadao.
N26 reduces staff headcount in Brazil
The news comes after the challenger announced in May it plans to cut 71 jobs – around 4% of its total workforce – as it looks to “sharpen its focus on its most important strategic priorities” against the backdrop of “significant and long-lasting changes” to the global business landscape over the last year.
The German neobank’s position in Brazil first began with the bank confirming its intended expansion back in 2019, bringing Eduardo Del Guerra Prota in as general manager to lead the country’s operations.
N26 Brazil’s activities didn’t properly get underway until 2021, when it gained approval from the country’s central bank to operate as a direct credit company from São Paulo.
However, two short years on, and N26’s entry into Brazil appears to have caused much less of a splash than initially hoped. According to local news outlet Brazil Journal, the bank has accumulated only around 200,000 customers in that time; a small slice of the 8 million customers it claimed to have worldwide at the end of 2022.
An N26 spokesperson told FinTech Futures: “The N26 team in Brazil are exploring multiple routes to strengthen their future position in the Brazilian market, and see significant potential in working with a local partner to further optimise their reach and capital structure. They recently made measured adjustments to the size of their team, as they adjusted their structures in line with business needs and market expectations.”
The spokesperson added that “there continues to be a strong response to the N26 experience in Brazil, and our team will continue to focus on supporting our customers as we work to change their relationship with money for the better”.
Meanwhile, 5,857 miles away in its home market, the German financial regulator BaFin reportedly extended restrictions put in place at N26 to tackle money laundering, according to Reuters. The watchdog will reportedly continue to impose a special monitor on N26 while also restricting its new customer count to 50,000 accounts per month – constraints it put in place back in 2021.
Likewise, it was also recently announced that Alexander Weber, who has served as the bank’s chief growth officer (CGO) for the last nine years, is to step down from the position.
