Hello bank! announced its withdrawal from the Czech market

Hello bank! decided to stop its activities in the Czech Republic. The process will take several months. As of Monday, April 3, the bank has stopped accepting new customers in the Czech Republic and has stopped customizing any new products for existing customers. According to ČTK, the bank currently has about 300,000 customers in the country. hello bank! worked in the Czech Republic as a branch of the financial group BNP Paripas Personal Finance.

According to the statement, the BNP Paribas Personal Finance group made this decision “after a thorough analysis of all options, which took into account all available opportunities in the Czech market for the benefit of customers, partners and employees.” Customer deposits in current and savings accounts will continue to earn interest in accordance with applicable terms and conditions, and customers can use them without restrictions until they receive a termination. The whole process will take several more months, the iDnes.cz server said.

Hello bank! failed to break into the Czech market

“Crisis always tests the true state of companies. Even during the boom Hello bank! failed to break into the Czech market. Unlike Air Bank and Equa bank, it has not attracted a sufficient portfolio of clients in the past,” Jiří Patak, co-founder of fintech app Patron GO, told CNN Prima News. According to him, it is not surprising that the BNP Paribas group is actually withdrawing the bank from the market during cuts and preventive accumulation of liquidity in banks.

“The parent company of BNP Paribas appears to have come to the conclusion that the bank’s operations do not make sense for the business. Therefore, this decision is more related to the optimal allocation of capital. This move has absolutely nothing to do with the ups and downs around US financial institutions,” Cyrrus analyst Tomasz Pfeiler added on the same television.

According to an official statement, the bank has not reached the required size in the sector to be able to absorb large investments in IT and take a competitive position in the market. This was extremely influenced by the economic, political and social situation. This is reported by the iDnes.cz server.

The bank operates under the brand Hello bank! on the Czech banking market since the end of 2017. Then, after twenty years on the Czech market under the name Cetelem, the company changed its business model and name. Until November 2017, it mainly provided consumer loans.

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