Netherlands-based FinTech bunq has announced a net profit of €53.1 million for 2023, its first year of profitability.

The company says that its latest full-year results make it Europe’s second most profitable neobank.

bunq said that user deposits almost quadrupled from €1.8 billion at the end of 2022 to €7 billion at the end of 2023, while gross interest income in the last quarter of the year grew by 488 per cent.

The bank, which currently has around 11 million users, also revealed it has applied for an E-Money Institution (EMI) licence in the UK. The company, which says it already has UK customers acquired before Brexit under relevant regulations, explained that the move would allow it to tap a market of around 2.8 million British “digital nomads”.

bunq is also currently awaiting a banking permit in the US.

“The UK is home to the second-highest number of digital nomads globally, so naturally, we want to be there”, said Ali Niknam, founder and chief executive of bunq. “As a bridge between Europe and the rest of the world, the UK is at the forefront of European FinTech and a hugely important market for bunq. As a true tech company, it only makes sense for us to pursue this market.”

At the end of last year, bunq launched a generative AI assistant for its users to help them carry out a range of tasks. Dubbed Finn, the large language model (LLM) can help customers gain insights into spending habits, find transactions and acts as a replacement for the search function on the app.

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