Business banking start-up GoDutch launches in the Netherlands
GoDutch, an Amsterdam-based business banking start-up, has officially launched this week with the aim to “revolutionise business banking by redefining what ‘fair banking’ truly means”, according to founder Thomas Vles.
GoDutch launches business banking services this week
Commenting on the launch via LinkedIn, Vles says the new venture plans to share “up to 70%” of its income with its users and will actively support initiatives focused on climate and social impact.
“This initiative is part of our commitment to fair financial redistribution, active support of social and sustainable projects, and the mission to achieve a climate-positive status within two years,” its new website further clarifies.
GoDutch provides free business accounts with a free Dutch IBAN and a virtual card, with additional benefits available through a number of tiered subscription packages.
Vles says the firm has partnered with French banking platform Swan to “ensure the highest safety standards to protect users from fraud, phishing and other threats”, adding that funds are “securely held in segregated accounts by one of the safest banks in Europe” and protected by the European Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
GoDutch’s accounts also allow business users to make instant SEPA transfers as well as send and receive more than 20 currencies at mid-market rates.
For every business account opened, GoDutch says it will “regreen” a five-square-metre plot of land in Kenya’s savannah for every month that account activity is sustained, while also allowing businesses to automatically donate some of their profits to curated charities.
Detailing his reasons for starting the company, Vles says: “Over the past years, all banks have recorded billions in profits. A substantial part of this has been earned by the interest on the funds of their customers, their card usage, and other charges. That’s unfair. It’s their customers’ activity that has created this income.
“The benefits of these profits go to shareholders, not their customers, society, or the planet. The costs of banking are not at all in proportion with the services provided. We believe that the income from all financial services should be fairly distributed, paving the way for socially and environmentally positive banking.”
Speaking on product developments in an interview with FinTech Futures, Vles shares that GoDutch is currently planning to launch API links with its core partners “really soon”, alongside the arrival of bulk credit initiation with XML within the first three months of launch, followed by the integration of Dutch online payment method iDEAL within the first six months.
