By postponing its launch to 2021, Zenus Bank has joined the number of challenger banks forced to shift their focus because of the coronavirus.
The neobank was originally set to launch at the end of 2020. “However, like many businesses around the world we have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the startup said in statement. “Thankfully the impact has not been too great but has meant our anticipated launch date being moved back to early 2021.”
The startup is blaming the delay on its regulatory and governmental partners having been been restricted because of the pandemic.
“As you can imagine, establishing a regulatory compliant bank involves developing a lot of systems and procedures which need to meet all the right governmental and industry requirements,” Zenus Bank continued. “To do this we are working with a number of partners around the world. Some of our partners have been restricted by Covid-19 and in turn our development has been slowed.
“Thank you for your patience and support. We know some of you joined our waitlist some time ago and are still eagerly awaiting our launch. From here on in we will be keeping you more informed of our progress.”
The news comes after UK challenger banks Monzo, Revolut and Starling Bank all reported massive losses due to the Covid-19 fallout. The losses recorded by the British leading neobanks have raised concerns about the sector’s viability.
Additionally, both Monzo and native rival Tandem have both suffered 40% down rounds due to the pandemic.
Zenus picked up its permit to operate as a bank in August 2019. Since then it has tapped RegTech company NICE Actimize for its autonomous financial crime management services and become a Visa principal member.
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