N26 appoints Georg Hauer as general manager in Ireland

16 Sep 2020

The N26 app. Image: Rafapress/Depositphotos

Georg Hauer is now general manager of N26’s operations in Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Today (16 September), Berlin-based challenger bank N26 announced that Georg Hauer is set to become the new head of the start-up’s operations in Ireland.

Hauer is currently general manager for the bank’s home markets in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH). He will continue in this role while also assuming responsibility for N26’s growth plans in Ireland.

As a result of Brexit, N26 is no longer operating in the UK, which means that Ireland is the only English-speaking country it serves in the European market.

Hauer will oversee operations from N26’s headquarters in Berlin. Prior to working at N26, where he has led the DACH region for more than two years, Hauer worked as a general manager for Uber and a consultant at Boston Consulting Group.

N26’s future in Ireland

Commenting on the new appointment, N26 co-founder and CEO Valentin Stalf said he is “thrilled” that Hauer will be heading the company’s Irish operations at “such a pivotal time”.

“Irish consumers are an important focus for us as we look ahead towards 2021 to earn their trust and capture a large market share for the coming years,” Stalf said. “This is why we have expanded Georg’s role to include Ireland to manage growth in a similar manner to the growth of our DACH home markets.”

At the end of 2019, N26 said it had reached 100,000 customers in Ireland and planned to “significantly increase investment” in the Irish market in 2020.

Sarunas Legeckas, former general manager for N26 Ireland and several other European markets, has left the company to be closer to his family.

Hauer said: “It has been a pleasure to work closely with Sarunas since his arrival in 2019, with a shared ambition to unlock our brand’s full growth potential in Ireland. We wish him all the best with his future endeavours.

“With our transparent subscription banking model, real-time banking features and fully-digital user experience we believe we can champion Irish consumer needs in the long term.”

N26 was launched in 2013 and now has more than 5m customers in 25 markets. In May of this year, the company raised $100m in a Series D extension, bringing the total raised in its latest funding round to $570m.

The N26 app. Image: Rafapress/Depositphotos

Kelly Earley was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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