Dutch challenger bank bunq announced that it will become the first European digital bank to offer mortgages.

The bank secured a partnership with Dutch lending platform Tulp to deliver mortgages starting from early 2022, a statement from the company said.

The service will be available in the Netherlands initially, with about two-thirds of the digital bank’s home loans covered by the Dutch government’s insurance scheme.

The scheme provides up to EUR355,000 for 2022 towards borrower defaults.

The 2012-founded challenger bank reportedly has over EUR 1 billion in deposits as of April this year.

It raised EUR 193 million in a Series A round this year from British private equity firm Pollen Street Capital, at a valuation of EUR 1.6 billion.

Its first external round, the Series A was raised for the company’s Europe expansion, including M&As. bunq also acquired Dublin-based SME lender Capitalflow as part of the deal.

“At bunq we are constantly innovating and evolving to serve our users.

 

Becoming the first digital bank in Europe to offer our users mortgages is an incredibly exciting development for everyone at bunq,”

said Ali Niknam, Founder and CEO of bunq.