German neobank N26 has appointed a British executive as its new CEO, on the same day it was hit with new sanctions by the German financial regulator relating to compliance issues. Banking executive Mike Dargan will take over as CEO of N26, one of Europe’s most valuable fintechs, in April next year, replacing co-founder and co-CEO Maximilian Tayenthal and interim co-CEO Marcus Mosen.
The appointment of UBS executive Dargan effectively draws to a close the leadership of Tayenthal and Valentin Stalf, who founded the challenger bank in 2013. The pair served as its co-CEOs until Stalf stood down as co-CEO earlier this year, following a reported dispute with some of N26’s investors over the handling of regulatory issues by the founders.
Dargan, who has held senior roles at Merrill Lynch and Standard Chartered, will stand down from his current role as group chief operations and technology officer at UBS at the end of this year. Dargan said: “This marks the beginning of something new for me – a new opportunity, a new bank and a refreshed business model. N26 has been a pioneer in digital banking with a strong foundation and a forward-looking strategy.”
Tayenthal said: “I am confident to step back and put N26 in the very capable hands of Mike. Beyond his extensive experience combining banking, technology and digital transformation, he is also fully committed to the N26 vision.”
The appointment of Dargan came on the same day that N26, which has over five million customers across Europe, was hit by new sanctions by BaFin. These included N26 being banned from lending new mortgages in the Netherlands and BaFin appointing a special monitor to oversee N26's compliance activities, after the regulator found compliance shortcomings.
The intervention followed previous sanctions imposed by the German regulator on N26, including a €9.2m fine in 2024 relating to late filings of suspected money laundering.
Tayenthal will leave the management board at the end of the year and Stalf has moved to be a member of the N26 supervisory board.
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