Bunq, an Amsterdam-based challenger bank, is expanding its operation to 22 additional markets, pushing the number of countries all the way to 30. In other words, bunq will be available in all European Union markets as well as Norway and Iceland.
Ali Niknam, founder and CEO of bunq, said:
We’re extremely excited to launch the Travel Card all across Europe. By offering the best card to travel the world, European travelers can now always pay with the real exchange rate and enjoy the benefits of a true credit card without the burden of debt or monthly fees.
Enabled Google Pay and Apple Pay!
In addition to it, the company is also enabling Google Pay and Apple Pay support for all its customers with Travel Card in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Ireland. It’s worth mentioning that Google Pay isn’t available in the Netherlands.
Independent bank that makes life easy
For the uninitiated, bunq is an independent bank that offers world-class mobile banking with no branch visits, no queues, no paperwork.
Users can share bank accounts with whomever they want and pay with worldwide Maestro and Mastercards wherever they go. bunq is currently available in 8 European markets: the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and Ireland.
In the above countries, customers can open their full-fledged bank accounts online. In this case, users will get a unique International Bank Account Number (IBAN) as well as a debit card, for a monthly subscription charge.
Why prefer the bunq Travelcard?
A few months back, the Dutch startup launched a Travel Card as an ultimate solution for travel for both individuals and companies. Launched in ties with Mastercard, users can book hotels, rental cars, and experience other benefits of a credit card.
This travelcard is all about saving on bank fees. With this card, users can easily top-up the virtual wallet, allowing them to spend money through the Mastercard.
Talking about the benefits, Bunq uses a standard Mastercard exchange rate but doesn’t add any markup fee. In this case, most of the traditional banks charge 2 or 3% for foreign transactions.
This travel card costs a one-time fee of €9.99 without any additional monthly charges. It is important to note the Travel Card charges a standard fee of €0.99 is charged for each ATM withdrawal.
Moreover, users can also change various settings and switch them on or off through their smartphone. For example, the limit of the card, managing CVC security codes or blocking the card in the event of loss or theft.
List of countries!
Here’s the full list of new countries launching today: Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and non-EU countries Norway and Iceland. bunq is seen as part of the four major European challengers who build the bank of the future, along with N26, Revolut, and Monzo.
Main image credit: Bunq
Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.
