Lots of movement now taking place in purely mobile banking.
A bunch of startups have launched, each seeking to provide an alternative to high street banks that offer lengthy sign-up, little or no data, anti-social hours etc.
Launches include Moven and Simple in the USA, FIDOR in Germany, Alior in Poland, France’s Hello Bank and the forthcoming Atom Bank in the UK.
Now, there’s Austria’s Number26.
The newcomer offers an app with linked Mastercard card. It takes eight minutes to sign up, and the app logs details of every bit of activity. It also supports P2P payments to other mobile users (a la Pingit, Venmo etc) and displays charts to help you regulate spending.
Everything is customisable, so you can set limits or even disable payments etc. Interestingly there are no extra fees for paying for overseas goods in foreign currencies.
Number26’s banking partner is Wirecard Bank, which holds all the appropriate licences.
The Berlin-based startup received $2m in funding last year and is now live by invitation in Germany and Austria. Apparently it started out as a pre-paid card for kids but pivoted when it observed how many adults were seeking it out.