This will be true of many regulated industries if regulations diverge, and most industries with a supply chain across Europe too, so expect to see a lot of factory closures in the coming years, along with missed opportunities for new investment (for example Brexit was a significant factor in Tesla avoiding the UK, and financial services like EU clearing will probably gradually move toward the centre of gravity too).
You are in denial about the financial impact Brexit will have.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/13/tesla-cit...
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-clearing-exclu...
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/03/nissan-conf...
History will probably repeat itself: the current, or next Government will reduce regulation to encourage businesses to stay or locate in London. Banks will exploit it somehow. Cue next financial crisis.
With an EU-wide banking license, N26 can operate in any territory it chooses to, for relatively little marginal overhead. Once they need a completely separate banking license for the UK, it changes the model significantly and would need them to be significantly more successful to justify continuing operations here.
It is all brexit related, why can’t you see that? Why else would they suddenly pack up shop?
Unfortunately This is just the first to come.
Can you explain a bit more what you mean by this? Tracking exactly in which sense?
So lets say you have a bank account in the United Kingdom. Now for whatever reason, I am now living in Austria, the bank can ring up my information without additional paperwork.
Now that the UK is in the process of transition, this isn't possible unless a court order is presented yadda yadda. It would be a threat for like N26 to have me as a client but unable to look in to my spending habits. If I had a bank account with loans enabled, I could take a loan and just disappear.
Under the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 all existing EU law has been incorporated into our domestic legislation so the EU mony laundering scheme (assuming it is some form of legislation by the EU) still applies even though we are no longer an EU Member State.
However, it can be repealed after the transition period ends (1st January 2021) which might well happen depending on the priorities of the Government at that time.
The point remains that this isn't the key reason behind their decision. I guess it's easier to blame Brexit than to explain to your customers that you're closing their accounts because of good old business.
They launched in the UK after the Brexit referendum and they don't even need that bank licence to offer electronic current accounts in the UK (Revolut did that for 3 years and their current bank licence is also an EU one so may also become useless in the UK).