N26 and BaFin – why is everything always so complicated between you?
The nightmare actually seemed to be over: In June 2024, N26 celebrated the end of a years-long growth stunt. BaFin had lifted the cap, and after almost three years, the Berlin-based neobank was finally able to acquire unlimited new customers again.
In 2025, just one year later, Germany's financial regulator is once again at the digital bank's door . The reason: its Dutch subsidiary "Neo Hypotheken."
In 2023, founders Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal ventured into the Dutch real estate market. The idea: mortgages with government backing through the "Nationale Hypotheek Garantie" (NHG). This posed a problem for BaFin, as N26 used local risk standards in the Netherlands, while regulators demanded that the stricter German rules apply there as well.
Neo Mortgages operates under a license from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and, "as a product exclusively aimed at the Dutch market, meets all applicable legal and regulatory requirements in the Netherlands," N26 stated in response to a request from Gründerszene. BaFin cited its confidentiality obligation and did not answer our questions about N26.
As early as 2024, according to Manager Magazin , BaFin criticized N26 for not adequately documenting risks in its mortgage business and analyzing them too slowly. Despite intensive discussions with the bank, no details have been made public. N26 merely emphasizes that it maintains "a trusting and constructive collaboration" – but does not comment on the content. Whether new requirements will follow remains to be seen.
Since 2018, N26 has been in constant conflict with the financial regulator. Reprimands, fines running into millions, restrictions—and, starting in 2021, even an unprecedented slowdown in growth. The accusation: N26 has grown too quickly.
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