Global money transfer service Azimo announces the launch of its Dutch subsidiary, Azimo BV. The move makes Azimo the first UK fintech company to separate its UK and European operations in anticipation of Brexit. All Azimo transfers sent from outside the UK are now handled by the new subsidiary.
Azimo started to look for a new European base after the June 2016 Brexit vote. The company was granted a licence by the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank) earlier this year, and has since opened an office in Amsterdam to house its European operations team as the company continues to grow its share of the $700bn global remittance market.
Richard Ambrose, CEO of Azimo, said, “Aside from London, Amsterdam is the best place in Europe to grow a fintech company. It has a culture open to innovation, outstanding talent, a thriving banking sector and a sophisticated regulator. It also guarantees that we can continue to benefit from EU passporting rights to offer our service across Europe.”Azimo’s remittance service has been available to Dutch customers since 2015, and is mainly used by migrant workers to send money to friends and family abroad.
“According to recent figures published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), migrants account for 21% of the Dutch population. The World Bank estimates that over £4bn was sent from the Netherlands to other countries in 2018.Since launching in 2012, Azimo has served more than a million sending customers, and handled more than £2bn of transfer volume. Its transfer volume increased by 60% year-on-year in the financial year to June 2019. It is one of only a handful of European fintech companies to reach profitability thus far.
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