German online bank N26 says new customer limit lifted

German online bank N26 said Tuesday restrictions placed on its customer growth by financial regulators over money laundering concerns would end.

A cap of 60,000 new customers a month imposed by the German financial watchdog BaFin would be lifted on June 1, N26 said in a statement.

BaFin imposed the cap in 2021 over concerns the bank was not doing enough to promptly report suspicions of money laundering to the regulator.

The restrictions came with a multi-million-euro fine and increased oversight measures by BaFin.

CEO Valentin Stalf said in a statement N26 would continue its "close exchange" with regulators going forward.

"In recent years we have been able to make significant progress in preventing and combating money laundering and financial crime," Stalf said.

N26 said it had invested 100 million euros ($109 million) in "compliance and its infrastructure and teams to effectively combat money laundering" since the end of 2021.

Contacted by AFP, BaFin declined to comment on the statement made by N26.

BaFin hit N26 with a 9.2-million-euro penalty earlier this month for shortcomings in the bank's anti-money laundering efforts identified in 2022.

N26's initial 2021 fine totalled some 4.25 million euros.

N26 has been in the regulator's crosshairs since 2018 after a German news media investigation found it was possible to open an account with forged IDs.

The online bank, founded in 2013, says it has some eight million clients in 24 countries.