Bank Bunq Annual Report 2022: Revenues & Costs Explode, Shareholders Inject Tens of Millions

This is evident from the bank’s annual report published today.

Revenues explode, as do costs

The bank grew like a cabbage in 2022 and income also rose sharply. Interest income rose from around 5 million euros to 41.4 million euros. This is a direct result of the European Central Bank (ECB) raising interest rates.

The total income even increased from more than 26 million euros to just under 70 million euros. But costs rose even faster, such as personnel costs and marketing costs. They almost tripled, to 29 million euros and 27 million euros, so that there was still a substantial loss at the bottom of the line.

However, there does not seem to be any sign of a minor mood. According to the bank, the fourth quarter of 2022 was profitable, and the bank itself writes that it expects it to continue to write black figures from now on. The bank says it was also profitable in the first quarter of 2023.

Tens of millions of shareholder support

However, Bunq cannot yet stand on its own two feet. Last year, the shareholders, mainly CEO Ali Niknam himself and the British investor Pollen Street Capital, had to step up again to keep the mandatory bank buffers up to standard. They pumped another 9 million euros in capital into Bunq to keep the bank stable.

And also at the beginning of 2023 the wallet was pulled. In January, the shareholders added another 6 million euros and in April another 37 million.

That seems like a bad sign, but it’s not necessarily. In the first months of the year, the savings deposited at Bunq increased by about 600 million euros, according to the bank. Banks must hold more equity the more money they have under management. According to a spokesman, the capital injections were necessary because bank balances increased so fast.

58.5 million in reserve

Last year, Niknam and Pollen promised to have a bag of money of 58.5 million ready in case the bank needs it, according to the annual report. In April, Niknam did not want to say anything about how far shareholders are willing to go to keep the bank afloat if necessary. The 43 million euros from the beginning of this year and the 9 million euros from last year come from this pot, which should now contain about 7 million.