Innovative German bank Fidor is preparing to launch in the US after signing a partnership agreement with an undisclosed local bank.
Fidor says the move into the US is part of a global cross-border strategy that will see the Web 2.0-based bank push into other new territories across the EU and Bric countries "in the next few years".
Munich-based Fidor has established a reputation in European banking circles as a disruptive innovator, utilising a full range of social media, crowdfunding and P2P lending techniques and digital currency services to build its business.
Speaking on the bank's plans for US expansion, Fidor Bank CEO Matthias Kroener, says: "For Fidor Bank, this project is an outstanding opportunity and a further step in the global roll-out of the Fidor brand and Fidor vision. Even though the US is the motherland of all innovative digital developments, we see some striking market opportunities for a consumer-centric banking philosophy and product.”
Kroener says that Fidor's plans to enter the UK market are "in its final stages", as the bank prepares to make its services available across the eurozone.
"We have frequent requests from all over Europe” says Kroener. "The Web is not only an enabler but also calls for an international development, because in the end there is one overarching rule: it does not matter where a company is founded; it matters where it scales.”