Dutch digital bank Bunq on Tuesday said it’s filed for broker-dealer registration in the U.S. as it looks to further expand across the Atlantic.
Bunq CEO Ali Niknam said the broker-dealer application will be an initial step toward securing a full banking license. He couldn’t offer a firm timeline for when Bunq will secure this authorization in the U.S. — but said he’s excited for its growth prospects in the country.
Obtaining a broker-dealer license will mean Bunq “can offer our users who have an international footprint — which is the user demography we’re aiming for — a great number of our services,” Niknam told CNBC. Bunq mainly caters for “digital nomads,” individuals who can live and work from anywhere remotely.
Bunq will be able to offer most of its services in the U.S. with the exception of a savings account after securing broker-dealer authorization, Niknam added.
Bunq, which touts itself as a bank for “digital nomads,” currently has a banking license in the European Union. It has applied for an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) in the U.K. Bunq previously had operations in Britain but forced to withdraw from the country in 2020 due to Brexit.
Bunq initially filed for a U.S. Federal bank charter in April 2023. However, it withdrew the application a year later, citing issues between its Dutch regulator and U.S. agencies. The company plans to resubmit its application for a full U.S. banking license later this year.
65% jump in profit
Beyond the update on international expansion, Bunq also on Tuesday reported a 65% year-over-year jump in profit to 85.3 million euros ($97.2 million). That jump was primarily driven by a 55% increase in net interest income, while net fee income also grew 35%.
Similarly to fintech peers such as N26 and Monzo, Bunq has benefited from a high interest rate environment by pocketing yields on customer deposits sat at the central bank.
Bunq’s CEO told CNBC that, while high interest rates have certainly helped, more generally Bunq is seeing increased usage of the platform and has been focused on cost efficiency from an operational perspective.
“Because we are so lean and mean, and because we have set up all of our systems from scratch … we have been able to not only increase our profits, but also offer very good interest rates in the European market in general, and in the Netherlands specifically,” Niknam said.
More recently, central banks in the EU and U.K. and U.S. have moved to slash interest rates in response to falling inflation and concerns of an economic slowdown, which can bite into bank earnings.
Niknam said he’s not concerned by the prospect of rates coming down and expects potential declines in interest income to be offset by a “diversified” revenue mix that includes income from paid subscription products, as well as new features. Bunq recently launched a tool that lets users trade stocks.
“This is different in continental Europe to the U.K. We had negative interest rates for long,” Niknam told CNBC. “So as we were growing, actually our cost base was also growing because we had to pay for all the deposits that people deposited a Bunq so I think we’re in a great position in 2025
Bunq is coming up against heaps of competition, especially in the U.S. market. America is already served by established consumer banking giants, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. It’s also home to several major fintech brands, such as Chime and Robinhood.
A Xiaomi electric car SU7 in a store in Yichang, Hubei Province, China on July 19, 2025.
Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images
Chinese tech giant Xiaomi saw its shares fall over 5% on Monday, following reports that the doors of one of its electric vehicles failed to open after a fiery crash in China that left one person dead.
The stock slid as much as 8.7% in Hong Kong, marking its steepest drop since April, before paring losses after images and video of a burning Xiaomi SU7 sedan in Chengdu circulated on Chinese social media.
Video and eyewitness accounts showed bystanders trying but failing to open the doors of the burning car to rescue an occupant. Personnel at the scene eventually used a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze, local reports said.
Chengdu police said the crash occurred after the SU7 collided with another sedan, killing a 31-year-old male driver who was suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol.
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Xiaomi shares
Xiaomi, which manufactures consumer electronics, software and electric vehicles, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The latest incident follows a fatal SU7 crash earlier this year that raised questions about the vehicle’s smart driving features and sent Xiaomi’s shares tumbling.
The crash could also intensify scrutiny on electronic door handles, a design popularized by Tesla and now common in modern EVs.
Unlike mechanical models, electronic door handles rely on sensors and electricity and may fail during a fire or power outage.
China is considering a ban on such electric door handles to address safety risks linked to the feature, state-backed media reported in late September.
Meanwhile, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into about 174,000 Tesla Model Y vehicles after reports of door handle failures.
A close-up view of the Nexperia plant sign in Newport, Wales on April 1, 2022.
Matthew Horwood | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The Dutch government has taken control of Nexperia, a Chinese-owned semiconductor maker based in the Netherlands, in an extraordinary move to ensure a sufficient supply of its chips remains available in Europe amid rising global trade tensions.
Nexperia, a subsidiary of China’s Wingtech Technology, specializes in the high-volume production of chips used in automotive, consumer electronics and other industries, making it vital for maintaining Europe’s technological supply chains.
On Sunday evening, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs revealed that it had invoked the “Goods Availability Act” on the company in September in order “to prevent a situation in which the goods produced by Nexperia (finished and semi-finished products) would become unavailable in an emergency.”
Following the announcement from the Hague, Wingtech plunged its maximum daily limit of 10% on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The Goods Availability Act allows the Hague to intervene in private companies to ensure the availability of critical goods in preparation for emergency situations, and its use comes amid escalations in the U.S.-China trade war.
The government statement said the “highly exceptional” move had been made after the ministry had observed “recent and acute signals of serious governance shortcomings and actions” within Nexperia.
“These signals posed a threat to the continuity and safeguarding on Dutch and European soil of crucial technological knowledge and capabilities. Losing these capabilities could pose a risk to Dutch and European economic security,” it said, identifying automotives as particularly vulnerable.
Governance changes
In a corporate filing dated Oct.13, lodged with the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Wingtech confirmed Nexperia was under temporary external management and had been asked to suspend changes to the company’s assets, business or personnel for up to a year, according to a Google translation.
Wingtech chairman Zhang Xuezheng had been immediately suspended from his roles as executive director of Nexperia Holdings and non-executive director of Nexperia after the ministerial order, according to the filing.
The filing added that Nexperia’s daily operations will continue, with the impact of the measures not yet quantifiable.
“The Dutch government’s decision to freeze Nexperia’s global operations under the pretext of ‘national security’ constitutes excessive intervention driven by geopolitical bias, rather than a fact-based risk assessment,” Wingtech said in a deleted WeChat post, which was archived and translated by Chinese policy blog Pekingnology.
It added that since it acquired Nexperia in 2019, Wingtech “has strictly abided by the laws and regulations of all jurisdictions where it operates, maintaining transparent operations and sound governance,” and employs “thousands of local staff” through R&D and manufacturing sites in the Netherlands, Germany and Britain.
A spokesperson from Nexperia told CNBC that the company had no further comments, but that it “complies with all existing laws and regulations, export controls and sanctions regimes,” and remained in regular contact with relevant authorities.
The Netherlands’ move comes after Beijing tightened its restrictions on the export of rare earth elements and magnets Thursday, which could impact Europe’s automotive industry.
The move could also further strain trade relations between China and the Netherlands, following years of restrictions on Dutch company ASML’s exports of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China.
In 2023, the Netherlands had also investigated Nexperia’s proposed acquisition of chip firm startup Nowi, though the deal was later approved.
FILE PHOTO: Ariel Cohen during a panel at DLD Munich Conference 2020, Europe’s big innovation conference, Alte Kongresshalle, Munich.
Picture Alliance for DLD | Hubert Burda Media | AP
Navan, a developer of corporate travel and expense software, expects its market cap to be as high as $6.5 billion in its IPO, according to an updated regulatory filing on Friday.
The company said it anticipates selling shares at $24 to $26 each. Its valuation in that range would be about $3 billion less than where private investors valued Navan in 2022, when the company announced a $300 million funding round.
CoreWeave, Circle and Figma have led a resurgence in tech IPOs in 2025 after a drought that lasted about three years. Navan filed its original prospectus on Sept. 19, with plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “NAVN.”
Last week, the U.S. government entered a shutdown that has substantially reduced operations inside of agencies including the SEC. In August, the agency said its electronic filing system, EDGAR, “is operated pursuant to a contract and thus will remain fully functional as long as funding for the contractor remains available through permitted means.”
Cerebras, which makes artificial intelligence chips, withdrew its registration for an IPO days after the shutdown began.
Navan CEO Ariel Cohen and technology chief Ilan Twig started the company under the name TripActions in 2015. It’s based in Palo Alto, California, and had around 3,400 employees at the end of July.
For the July quarter, Navan recorded a $38.6 million net loss on $172 million in revenue, which was up about 29% year over year. Competitors include Expensify, Oracle and SAP. Expensify stock closed at $1.64on Friday, down from its $27 IPO price in 2021.
Navan ranked 39th on CNBC’s 2025 Disruptor 50 list, after also appearing in 2024.