“We can finally accept the paper identity card. This is one of the major improvements we have done this year and that was our Achilles’ heel in 2017” particularly in Italy, where the electronic identification pass, as everyone here knows, has not yet become widespread. For Matteo Concas, General Manager Italy at N26, this development of the identification system is very important, of course, but it is also fundamental for all N26, a mobile bank located in 17 countries, that now has half a million customers all over Europe, Italy makes up 10% of this figure and it is “one of the main countries, a core market”.

“ We see that there is a huge need for new banking experiences, more transparency even in costs and that really could improve people’s everyday life – explains Concas – We want to grow and reach 2 or 3 million customers at European level in the coming years and strategically this year we are working to enter the UK and the USA”.

With N26, Europe’s first Mobile Bank with a full European banking license, users receive a Mastercard to pay cashless or withdraw cash all around the world, with a simple click they can block or unblock their card and send money instantly to friends and contacts: “What we want to do – claims Concas – is to redefine the user experience in accessing these services. People can access the services we offer in real time and through a much simpler user experience compared to traditional banks”.

Opening a new bank account takes only 8 minutes video conference and can be done directly from a smartphone, at home. “We recently redesigned the identification system that is no longer in video conference with 8 minutes. We kept the 8 minutes, but it will be by sending a picture of yourself and a photo of the identity document, and by filling in the classic fields of the initial form”.

Founded in 2015, in Germany, N26 is one of several foreign companies interested to open itself up to the Italian world, “Fintech District is the perfect neuralgic point for a company like ours”. Be a member of the community, it’s not just being “in the centre of Milan, in the most strategically important place from the point of view of startups and finance”, it is so much more.

“In this hub I can meet other players for potential partnerships and for comparison, to mutually learn. In the fintech field, although there are some players with whom we are competing, in itself, we are competing the most with the less digitalized world” explains Concas.

What Fintech District members have to do, according with him, is “to create more awareness of digital services that improve people’s lives and all together, although sometimes against each other, we increase the market. Fintech District also from the outside, for people who do not know this new world, is a way to open the door to technology that is sometimes seen as a threat”. For Concas, and for N26, “this is the best way to start the adventure in Italy, in a community that really helps you take a step towards the future”.