N26 co-founder Valentin Stalf is leaving his role as chief executive of the Revolut rival and will join the group’s supervisory board, following tensions between investors and the entrepreneurs who started the business.
The shake-up comes after the German financial watchdog BaFin identified concerns at the company, which is reported to have more than 200,000 customers in Ireland, threatening to hit the bank with fresh sanctions last month – a move that sparked renewed tension between the co-founders and N26’s investors.
It comes ahead of a possible deal between N26’s co-founders and investors in the company, which has faced several regulatory challenges.
The deal would involve Stalf and his co-founder Max Tayenthal, who together own about 20 per cent of the company, waiving special voting rights that give them veto power over certain decisions in exchange for investors taking a haircut on their returns.
READ MORE
N26 was valued at €7.7 billion in a 2021 fundraising round, in a deal that gave investors a guaranteed 25 per cent annualised rate of return from when they invested.
Stalf and Tayenthal have been in discussions with N26’s backers about a deal that would lead to them stepping down from their executive roles.
Tayenthal, who is co-CEO alongside Stalf and leads N26’s bank entity, will remain in those positions, the company said in a statement. But one person familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times that Tayenthal was likely to step down from his operational role at a later stage.
N26 chair Marcus Mosen was being lined up to be appointed as interim co-CEO soon, the Financial Times had previously reported.
Mosen declined to comment. N26 said Tayenthal “remains fully committed to his role”. Tayenthal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stalf told the FT he expected two more executives to join the management board “over the coming six to 12 months” but declined to comment further on potential future management changes, including the potential moves by Tayenthal and Mosen.
Under Germany’s two-tier board system, the management board runs a company’s day-to-day operations. The supervisory board can appoint and fire top executives and is responsible for CEO pay and overseeing the strategic direction of a company.
The deal being discussed between the co-founders and investors would see Stalf and Tayenthal given two supervisory board nominations, and they could opt to nominate themselves, subject to approval by regulators, according to people familiar with the discussions.
However, the current members of the supervisory board had opposed their direct appointment, arguing that allowing a sitting chief executive to join without a cooling-off period risked undermining the board’s independence and its ability to act as a check on the management board.
Stalf said he had been contemplating his exit the company’s management “for some time”, adding that he would join the supervisory board after a transition period of about six months. His new role would be “very different” from his operational duties as chief executive, he added.
Stalf said he had expedited his move after media reports about his potential departure last week.
He said that he would also spend more time expanding his family office, which he has been “building up over the past years”.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
