O German digital bank N26 is banned from “carrying out transactions with new clients” in Italy. The decision came after the Italian central bank carry out an inspection – between October 25th and December 17th, 2021 – and discover “significant deficiencies in relation to money laundering legislation”, the AML (Anti Money Laundering).
A Bank of Italy also prohibited N26 from offering new products and services to existing customers, according to the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore .
The Italian regulator says N26 has “taken several actions to remedy these deficiencies” but adds that it intends to “verify that all detected anomalies have been resolved” before lifting the ban.
The neobank says it takes the issue of money laundering “very seriously” and has been expanding its global AML efforts since last year. “We are committed to further accelerating and improving our systems and operations in this area”, says N26 in a statement.
The news from Italy comes six months after N26 confirmed that it had halted its US operations on January 11, 2022, and that it intends to focus its efforts on its European business.
With 750 thousand customers in Italy, N26 is one of the preferred digital banks for Italian-Brazilians who wish to open a bank account in Italy, but who do not meet the requirements of traditional banks.
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