Fintech company Adyen won’t be going to the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) for a U.S. banking charter anytime soon, even though the payments company procured a pan-European banking license less than two months ago.
“We’re happy working with our banking partners in the U.S. markets,” Luke Salinas, senior vice president of strategy, told Bank Innovation.
The U.S. market is less fragmented compared to Europe, Salinas explained, and it makes more sense for Ayden to work with partners rather than get involved in the prolonged and tedious process of applying for a U.S. license.
This is especially a concern for fintechs, considering the OCC has made no progress after announcing last year that it is considering granting special bank charters to fintech companies. Just ask SoFi, a San Francisco-based personal finance company, which applied for an FDIC Bank Charter back in June.
“Our focus is only on payments,” Salinas said. “We’re not interested or even considering applying for a U.S. banking license right now.”
But, Europe is another story. Based in Amsterdam, Adyen is one of Europe’s largest unicorns, valued at about $2.3 billion. It was awarded a pan-European banking charter by Dutch Central Bank on behalf of the European Central Bank back in April. The company made an official announcement about the license in June.
“We aren’t looking to become a bank; our focus here too remains on payments and empowering merchants. The banking license lets us do that through getting around reconciliation, settlements, and other processes. It allows us to initiate cross-border transactions instantly,” he said. (instead of waiting for the standard three to five business days).
Adyen’s U.S. based customers, which include the likes of Facebook, and more recently luxury retailer Tory Burch, also benefit from its European license.
“The largest portion of their non-US sales comes from Europe,” Salinas explained. “So, our American based merchants are gaining the perks from this license through their European stores & offices,” he said.
Adyen was established in Amsterdam in 2006. It was launched in the U.S. over four years ago with about 7 people (Salinas was one of them). The U.S. office now has over 90 people. Adyen reported over $700 million in annual revenues in 2016, almost double it’s $365 million annual revenue in 2015. It serves over 2,700 stores worldwide and has processed over $90 billion in transactions last year alone.
Its roster of customers include Uber, LinkedIn, Twitter, AirBnB, Facebook, WeWork, Spotify, Symantec, and Microsoft as well as retailers like Crocs, Mango, Sephora, L’Oréal Paris, and Bonobos, among others.
Ayden’s biggest market competitors are San Francisco-based Stripe Inc. and Stockholm-based Klarna, which also procured a pan-European banking license around the same time as Adyen from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.