German digital bank N26 has received a banking licence from the Brazilian Central Bank.
N26 has received a Sociedade de Crédito Direto (SCD) licence from the Brazillian regulator, which will allow the fintech to carry out credit operations such as third-party credit analysis and the ability to issue electronic currency.
The fintech has announced plans to launch in Brazil back in 2019.
With the Germany-based bank’s latest launch comes new challenges. N26 will be going head to head with challenger bank Nubank. Nubank has over 25 million customers in Brazil and Mexico alone—for reference, N26 has roughly 5 million customers across 25 different markets.
The Brazilian challenger has also acquired several other smaller firms in the past 12 months, buying US consultancy firm Cognitect in July 2020 and Brazilian digital investment platform Easynvest in September, both for an undisclosed amount.
The German digital bank had one of the largest funding rounds of last year, raising $100m as part of its $470m Series D funding round.
