bunq has introduced Belgian IBANs and launched Wero payments in Belgium, expanding its local banking services.
The launch aims to give people who live and work in Belgium access to a local account alongside the company's existing multi-country offering.
According to bunq, 36% of Belgium's population has a foreign background, a share the company points to as evidence of demand among expats and internationally mobile workers for banking services that operate across borders. The new Belgian IBAN is aimed at this group, allowing users to hold a local account without the paperwork or branch visits typically associated with opening a bank account in a new country.
Account opening is carried out digitally and, according to bunq, can be completed within five minutes. Users can hold a Belgian IBAN alongside up to 25 other individual bunq accounts, each with its own IBAN, allowing them to manage accounts in different countries from a single app.
Alongside the new IBAN, bunq is offering a variable gross interest rate on savings of up to 3.01% annually through bunq Savings, paid weekly rather than annually. The rate is tiered, with a base rate applying up to an individual threshold and a higher rate above it, and applies to balances up to EUR 100.000 per person. Interest is subject to a 30% withholding tax in Belgium, and standard credit and inflation risks associated with savings products apply. Moreover, the company also offers automatic round-ups on everyday transactions as an additional savings mechanism. Deposits up to EUR 100.000 are covered by the Dutch Deposit Guarantee Scheme, reflecting bunq's licensing in the Netherlands.
Ali Niknam, founder and CEO of bunq, said the launch was intended to give people in Belgium a way to grow their savings while retaining flexibility to move across borders.
Wero rollout in Belgium and France
bunq has also launched Wero, the payment system operated by the European Payments Initiative, in Belgium and France. Wero is accessible directly through the bunq app and is intended to provide users with an additional payment method alongside existing options. The company said Wero will be extended to further European markets in the coming months, with the aim of supporting cross-border payments within Europe.
The Belgian launch follows bunq's recent introduction of Italian IBANs and its filing for a banking licence in Mexico, indicating a continued expansion of its account offering into additional European and non-European markets.
