Dutch neobank Bunq on staff recruitment, with a focus on digital nomads

Dutch challenger bank Bunq told CNBC it plans to grow its global workforce by 70% to more than 700 employees this year, even as other financial technology startups have decided to cut jobs.

Bunq, which operates in markets across the European Union, is looking to expand into new regions, including the United Kingdom and the United States, and compete with the fintechs already present in those countries, including Britain’s Monzo and Revolut, and the American neobank Chime.

Bunq said it needs suitable talent in those regions to support its global expansion ambitions. To that end, the company says it plans to end the year with 735 employees worldwide – an increase of 72% from 427 employees at the start of 2024.

“Bunq targets digital nomads who tend to roam the world,” Ali Niknam, CEO and co-founder of Bunq, told CNBC via email.

So-called ‘digital nomads’ are defined as people who travel freely while working remotely, using technology and the internet to work abroad from hotels, cafes, libraries, co-working spaces or temporary housing.

“We would like to serve our users wherever they are. Given the regulatory environment we are in, this means we need many additional people to make this possible,” Niknam added.

Bunq is currently applying for banking licenses in both the US and Great Britain. Last year, the company applied for a federal banking license. And in Britain, Bunq is awaiting a decision from financial regulators on an application to become a recognized e-money institution, or EMI.

The digital bank said it was actively recruiting staff for sales and business development, product marketing, PR, affiliate marketing and market analysis, as well as user support, development and quality assurance.

Many of these positions will be part of a “tailor-made digital nomad” program that will allow employees to work from anywhere in the world, Bunq said.

However, the company stressed that it was not closing any office space and that many new employees would work in its offices, including in Amsterdam, Sofia, Istanbul, Munich, Paris, Dublin, Madrid, London and New York City.

One of the biggest stories in both the fintech and broader tech industries over the past two years has been that companies have been cutting jobs to cut back on the massive spending levels implemented during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

The business environment for fintech companies, meanwhile, has become tougher, with inflation eroding consumer confidence and higher interest rates making it harder for startups to raise money.

In January last year, cryptocurrency exchange Coin base 950 jobs cut. It was followed by the payments giant PayPalreducing the global workforce by 2,000 people in early 2023 and a further 2,500 jobs in early 2024.

Meanwhile, some fintechs are looking to artificial intelligence to take on a growing number of roles.

For example, Swedish buy now, pay later firm Klarna said last month that it was able to reduce its workforce from 5,000 to 3,800 last year through attrition alone. It added that it aims to further reduce the number of employees to 2,000 through the use of AI in marketing and customer service.

“Our proven efficiencies at scale have been improved by our investment in AI, reducing operating costs and improving gross profit,” the company said in its first-half results.

Klarna said average revenue per employee had increased by 73% year-on-year, thanks in no small part to its internal adoption of AI.

However, Bunq’s Niknam said he does not see AI as a way to help companies reduce workforces.

“We deployed AI systems and solutions years before they became mainstream. [but] In our experience, AI enables our employees to do better for our users, more effectively and efficiently,” he told CNBC.

Bunq reported its first full year of profitability earlier this year, generating a net profit of 53.1 million euros in 2023. The company was last privately valued by investors at 1.65 billion euros.