Latest news with #N26
Finextra
12 hours ago
- Business
- Finextra
N26 co-founder Stalf leaves CEO role after investor row
N26 co-founder Valentin Stalf is stepping down as joint CEO of the German digital bank amid investor unrest over regulatory failings. 0 Stalf will move to a role on the N26 supervisory board after a transition period, says Germany's most valuable fintech. "My move to the Supervisory Board is a forward-looking decision to continue to best utilize my many years of experience and knowledge to strengthen N26," says Stalf. Maximilian Tayenthal, who founded N26 with Stalf 12 years ago, will remain in his CEO role, says a statement. Between them, the two still hold almost 20% of the company's shares. Last week, the Financial Times reported that investors were negotiating a deal that would see Stalf leave his role as co-CEO by September 1, with Tayenthal out by December 31. Backers moved to oust the founders after a BaFin special audit found "weaknesses in the internal control systems, processes and overall organisation," N26 stated in its annual report. The watchdog has indicated that it will issue a formal warning to two members of N26's management board and put in place a special monitor. The latest regulatory scrape comes a year after BaFin finally lifted a cap imposed in 2021 on the number of new customers the lender was allowed to onboard. That cap - along with a €9.2 million fine - was handed down over lax money laundering controls. It was set at 50,000 new customers a month before being increased to 60,000 in 2023, severely limiting growth at Germany's most valuable fintech.
Irish Times
17 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
N26 co-founder leaves joint CEO role at Revolut-rival after investor tensions
N26 co-founder Valentin Stalf is leaving his role as chief executive of the Revolut rival and will join the group's supervisory board, following tensions between investors and the entrepreneurs who started the business. The shake-up comes after the German financial watchdog BaFin identified concerns at the company, which is reported to have more than 200,000 customers in Ireland, threatening to hit the bank with fresh sanctions last month – a move that sparked renewed tension between the co-founders and N26's investors. It comes ahead of a possible deal between N26's co-founders and investors in the company, which has faced several regulatory challenges. The deal would involve Stalf and his co-founder Max Tayenthal, who together own about 20 per cent of the company, waiving special voting rights that give them veto power over certain decisions in exchange for investors taking a haircut on their returns. READ MORE N26 was valued at €7.7 billion in a 2021 fundraising round, in a deal that gave investors a guaranteed 25 per cent annualised rate of return from when they invested. Stalf and Tayenthal have been in discussions with N26's backers about a deal that would lead to them stepping down from their executive roles. Tayenthal, who is co-CEO alongside Stalf and leads N26's bank entity, will remain in those positions, the company said in a statement. But one person familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times that Tayenthal was likely to step down from his operational role at a later stage. N26 chair Marcus Mosen was being lined up to be appointed as interim co-CEO soon, the Financial Times had previously reported. Mosen declined to comment. N26 said Tayenthal 'remains fully committed to his role'. Tayenthal did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stalf told the FT he expected two more executives to join the management board 'over the coming six to 12 months' but declined to comment further on potential future management changes, including the potential moves by Tayenthal and Mosen. Under Germany's two-tier board system, the management board runs a company's day-to-day operations. The supervisory board can appoint and fire top executives and is responsible for CEO pay and overseeing the strategic direction of a company. The deal being discussed between the co-founders and investors would see Stalf and Tayenthal given two supervisory board nominations, and they could opt to nominate themselves, subject to approval by regulators, according to people familiar with the discussions. However, the current members of the supervisory board had opposed their direct appointment, arguing that allowing a sitting chief executive to join without a cooling-off period risked undermining the board's independence and its ability to act as a check on the management board. Stalf said he had been contemplating his exit the company's management 'for some time', adding that he would join the supervisory board after a transition period of about six months. His new role would be 'very different' from his operational duties as chief executive, he added. Stalf said he had expedited his move after media reports about his potential departure last week. He said that he would also spend more time expanding his family office, which he has been 'building up over the past years'. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Scotsman
Buses will stop serving Edinburgh park and ride due to 'low volume of customers'
Lothian Buses is to stop all its services calling at an Edinburgh park and ride from next month. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The X37, 47, and 47B will stop serving the Straiton park and ride, with the buses bypassing it and running directly down Straiton Road. Other bus service changes for Edinburgh and the Lothians include reductions on the NightBus network from September 7, as well as some routes in the city network, though some service frequencies will be increased. Straiton park and ride before Covid. Lothian Buses says it will stop serving the site due to a 'low volume of customers'. | Google Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The 600-space Straiton park and ride, located just over the Midlothian border, opened in October 2008, with a high-frequency bus service into Edinburgh city centre. During the pandemic, the station building there was shuttered alongside others at park and ride sites around the city, and has not reopened since. In a statement on their website, Lothian Buses said the decision was made in consultation with Edinburgh and Midlothian councils due to a 'low volume of customers' using the facility. The company added that it would reduce journey times for most passengers in Midlothian, and that bus stops located near to the park and ride on the A701 would remain open. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad NightBus services across the city will be reduced, with the N22 service from Princes Street to South Gyle being axed and the N26 losing all service between Haymarket and Clerwood. A new N1 service, running once on weekdays and three times on weekends, will partially replace the N22 and part of the N26 – though the N22 ran three times a night all week long. A series of changes to individual bus services will come into force on September 7. And the N25, N30 and N31 will either see frequencies drop or lose some services during some days of the week, while half of the N3's weekend trips will end early at Mayfield. However, the N35 service, from Ocean Terminal to Heriot-Watt, will gain a new journey in one direction every night. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In the city network, the 1 will see weekday services go from one every 12 minutes to one every 15, and the 35 will run less frequently on Sundays. But the 5 will go from every 20 minutes to every 15, and the 45 will get buses on Sundays, while the 9 will get extra trips in the morning during term time. At West Maitland Street, the 3, 4, 25, 26, 31, 33 and 44 will no longer stop, with service available nearby near Haymarket Station or Shandwick Place. However, East Coast, NightBus and express services will still stop there. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad At the eastbound side of the Abbeyhill stops, the 15, 26, X26 and 45 will be moved to the rear of the two stops. The X18 Lothian Country service will get an extra journey in each direction on weekdays, while the X27 and X28 will make less stops in the west of Edinburgh. Additionally, the X27 will gain extra services towards Edinburgh in the morning. The 72 will run more frequently seven days a week, going from hourly to once every 40 minutes, but will stop serving Kirkliston. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad And the 73 and 74 are set for significant changes, with the 73 partially taking on a new routing that links Armadale and Livingston. The 74 will pick up some of the areas no longer served by the 73, but will stop serving parts of Ladywell and St John's Hospital. On the East Coast network, the X4 will lose afternoon peak hours services to Tranent Castle, as well as the midnight service from Tranent to Musselburgh. But it will gain extra early morning services, which Lothian says will improve coordination with the 106 and 113. And the 106 will run through Edinburgh city centre Monday through Saturday, with services terminating at Western General Hospital. Sunday services will still terminate at Fort Kinnaird, as at present.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rillet Raises $70M From Andreessen Horowitz To Replace 'Dumb Databases' With AI Accounting That Closes Books In Hours
When Nicolas Kopp led German digital bank N26's U.S. operations, he learned that world-class finance teams were often slowed by outdated systems, forcing them to wait weeks for critical metrics despite working at high speed. That frustration planted the seed for Rillet, an AI-native enterprise resource planning platform built by accountants to modernize how companies handle their books. Now, Rillet said it secured $70 million in Series B funding co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and ICONIQ, bringing total funding to over $100 million in less than a year. Don't Miss: The same firms that backed Uber, Venmo and eBay are investing in this pre-IPO company disrupting a $1.8T market — Bill Gates Warned About Water Scarcity. Funding Round Unites Venture Capital Heavyweights and Expands Board Leadership The $70 million raise includes participation from Sequoia, Oak HC/FT, and earlier investors, arriving just 10 weeks after Rillet's $25 million Series A. The company said the funding will accelerate Rillet's push to rebuild enterprise accounting from the ground up, giving finance leaders the ability to scale multi-billion-dollar companies with smaller, more efficient teams. As part of the round, Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Alex Rampell and ICONIQ General Partner Seth Pierrepont are joining Rillet's board of directors. "Finance teams deserve the same AI advantages that have revolutionized sales, engineering, and legal," Rampell said in the company's statement, while Pierrepont noted that the company's AI-native approach "can give companies a clear edge: faster insights, leaner teams, and smarter decisions." Trending: 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. You can Cutting Close Times From Weeks to Days With AI-Native Architecture Founded by Kopp and Stelios Modes, the technical architect who built N26's payment infrastructure, Rillet was designed to eliminate the inefficiencies of legacy systems owned by large incumbents such as Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), Sage, and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). The company's leadership team includes former executives and accountants from EY, PwC, and other major firms, embedding industry expertise into every workflow. Rillet has signed more than 200 customers since launch, doubling its annual recurring revenue over the last 12 weeks and forming partnerships with top accounting firms like Armanino and Wiss. Clients such as Postscript, which generates over $100 million in annual recurring revenue, close their books in just three days using Rillet, while Windsurf manages its entire finance operation with a team of two people. The platform integrates directly with tools including Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), Stripe, and Brex, pulling structured data into its AI-powered general ledger. Legacy enterprise resource planning systems, described by Rillet as "dumb databases," often store transactions but leave teams dependent on spreadsheets and add-on approach eliminates that gap, enabling finance teams to collaborate in real time, automate workflows natively, and generate instant insights without relying on bolt-ons. Implementation can be completed in as little as four weeks, compared with up to 12 months for many legacy systems. Rillet Targets $500B Market Amid CPA Talent Shortage and 80% Automation Potential The American Institute of Certified Public Accountant has reported that 75% of today's public accounting CPAs are expected to retire within the next 15 years. In the meantime, Accenture estimates that about 80% of routine financial operations could be automated through technologies such as touchless continuous accounting and human-machine collaboration. Rillet aims to address both challenges by enabling finance teams to operate with fewer people while focusing on higher-value strategic analysis rather than manual processes. Looking ahead, Rillet says it plans to expand its AI capabilities, deepen integrations across the financial technology stack, and build toward a collaborative environment where AI agents and human experts manage financial performance together. Several customers are expected to go public within the next six to 12 months using Rillet's platform. Read Next: 2,000 High Earners Manage $6B With This AI Platform — Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Rillet Raises $70M From Andreessen Horowitz To Replace 'Dumb Databases' With AI Accounting That Closes Books In Hours originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Finextra
5 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
N26 investors bid to oust co-CEOs after watchdog's criticism
Investors in N26 are working to remove the German digital bank's founders as co-chief executives after regulator BaFin once again identified risk management failings at the fintech, according to the Financial Times. 0 Backers are negotiating a deal that would see Valentin Stalf leave his role as co-CEO by September 1, with his fellow founder Max Tayenthal out by December 31, says the FT, citing sources. N26's supervisory board chair Marcus Mosen would step in as interim co-chief executive. Investors have moved to oust the founders after a BaFin special audit found "weaknesses in the internal control systems, processes and overall organisation," N26 stated in its annual report. The watchdog has indicated that it will issue a formal warning to two members of N26's management board and put in place a special monitor. The latest regulatory scrape comes a year after BaFin finally lifted a cap imposed in 2021 on the number of new customers the lender was allowed to onboard. That cap - along with a €9.2 million fine - was handed down over lax money laundering controls. It was set at 50,000 new customers a month before being increased to 60,000 in 2023, severely limiting growth at Germany's most valuable fintech. According to the FT, the latest issues forced N26 to put a funding round launched earlier this year on hold. The company had planned to buy out investors from its 2021 round who had been guaranteed a 25% annualised rate of return from when they invested. The deal to oust Stalf and Tayenthal would see them waive their special voting rights in exchange for the investors taking a haircut on their returns, says the FT.
