N26 founders take 25 per cent pay cut for a year amid Covid-19

via AltFi

Senior management at N26, the Berlin-based digital bank, are taking a 25 per cent pay cut on the salaries for a year, as part of plans to ease the impact of Covid-19.

N26 is one of several fintechs which have introduced pay cuts at senior level.

In total, N26’s 10-strong Executive Leadership Team will take the pay cuts, including the bank’s founders Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal. The salary cuts will run for a year.

The bank has also offered around 150 of its employees based in Germany and Austria short-term work, known as kurzarbeit.

Germany’s Kurzarbeit scheme is a wage subsidy, which is similar to the furlough scheme in the UK.  

Staff who take up the scheme work reduced hours and receive at least 60 per cent of their net income for up 12 months while also remaining on the payroll, helping prevent staff being laid off.

The 150 figure represents 10 per cent of N26’s global headcount of 1,500. 

In February this year, N26 announced it was closing down its UK operation from April 15, citing the UK’s exit from the European Union made its business unfeasible.

Executives at a number of UK-based fintechs and peer-to-peer lenders including Crowdcubeand Funding Circle are also taking pay cuts amid the Covid-19 fallout.

Monzo CEO Tom Blomfield, meanwhile, is forgoing his salary for a year while Revolut founders Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko and some executive staff are forgoing their salaries for a year to help the bank.