Two years ago, due to Portugal readjusting its banking model, Banco BNI Europa was faced with a challenging economic environment. With a small balance sheet of 100m euros Portugal realised the only way to become profitable would be by growing in niche markets. It also had the challenge of boosting its growth in the shortest period possible. Against this backdrop, the management at Banco BNI Europa decided to implement an aggressive growth target and become a reference point for digital banking, therefore attracting clients for term deposits across Portugal, Germany, Holland and Austria.

At the same time, the bank also developed a new digital consumer credit platform that allows clients to get credit approval instantly, and the cash in less than 24 hours. Meanwhile, as it was developing this platform, the bank used the existing liquidity to create a diversified portfolio of credit assets across different countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Holland and Belgium. These credit assets are acquired through fintech platforms specialising in the origination of consumer credit, SME lending, invoice discounting, student lending, etc. Through these initiatives, BNI Europa has become one of the most active institutional investors in the alternative finance market.

As the bank grows it has now three solid pillars that allow it to continue enlarging its product offering. First, it will continue to increase its expertise in the credit investment side by broadening its investments across more countries and regions. Secondly, it will continue developing its online consumer credit platform by adding other channels, such as e-commerce, stores, companies HR departments, etc. Finally, the bank will continue to be open to partnerships with fintech companies to offer other niche credit, first in Portugal, before moving on to other countries. This will allow the bank to broaden its business with limited investment and benefit from state-of-the-art technology.

BNI Europa believes in the open architecture concept and intends to challenge the traditional banks by offering products through advanced platforms that will allow the customer to have the very best experience.

Further information
bnieuropa.pt/en/