bunq is one of Europe’s largest neobanks, known for its colourful cards, high interest on savings, and its “bank of The Free” branding. But if you live in the United Kingdom and try to open an account, you’ll quickly hit a wall. Here’s the current situation, why it happened, and what to use instead.
Is bunq available in the UK?
No. bunq is not available in the UK. You can only open a bunq account if you reside in one of the 27 EU countries where bunq operates. UK phone numbers and UK addresses are not accepted during sign-up.
bunq’s own help centre is explicit about who can sign up:
“All EEA citizens who reside in one of our supported EEA countries can sign up for bunq.”
bunq help centre
The supported countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. The UK is nowhere on the list:
There’s also no country selector to work around: bunq’s web sign-up simply shows a QR code that sends you to the mobile app, and the app won’t accept a UK address or phone number.
Why isn’t bunq available in the UK?
One word: Brexit. bunq operates on a Dutch banking licence (supervised by De Nederlandsche Bank) and used EU “passporting” rules to serve customers across the EEA - including, until 2020, the UK.
When the Brexit transition period ended, passporting into the UK stopped. From 1 January 2021, bunq paused all new sign-ups from the UK. Existing UK customers were moved into the FCA’s post-Brexit run-off regime, which lets them keep using their accounts but with limited functionality - no new accounts, no Stocks feature, and no reopening of closed accounts.
Will bunq come back to the UK?
Probably at some point - but it hasn’t happened yet. Since 2023, bunq has repeatedly said it wants to re-enter the UK, and in 2024 it confirmed it was preparing a UK banking licence application aimed at British customers and “digital nomads”. As of mid-2026, however, bunq has not launched in the UK, and no official launch date has been announced. If you live in the UK today, you’ll need an alternative.
Best bunq alternatives in the UK
The good news: the UK has one of the strongest digital banking scenes in the world. These are the closest substitutes for what bunq offers:
- Revolut: the most direct bunq alternative: multi-currency accounts, budgeting, savings and investing, now a fully licensed UK bank (FSCS protection up to £120,000). New customers can grab a welcome bonus (or the €200 Revolut Business bonus).
- Monzo: fully licensed UK bank with 10M+ customers and the closest app-first experience to bunq. FSCS protected.
- Starling Bank: fully licensed UK bank, no monthly fees, great for personal and small-business accounts. Interest is only paid on its separate savings accounts, not the current account.
- Chase UK: JPMorgan’s app-only UK bank, with cashback on spending and competitive savings rates.
- Wise: not a bank, but unbeatable for multi-currency: local GBP, EUR and USD account details with very low conversion fees.
Figures as of July 2026. Rates and offers change - always check the provider’s site.
Living in the EU instead?
If you’re actually based in an EU country (or about to move to one), bunq is available to you - and so are strong rivals like N26, which currently has a €35 welcome bonus with the promo code “sandracm60482c”. For the full comparison, check our guide to the best online banks in Europe.
Bottom line
bunq is not available in the UK and hasn’t been since Brexit ended passporting on 1 January 2021. A comeback is genuinely on the table - bunq was reported in June 2026 to be preparing a full UK banking licence bid - but nothing is live and no date has been set. In the meantime, Revolut is the closest all-round replacement (now a fully licensed UK bank with FSCS protection up to £120,000, plus a welcome bonus for new users), while Monzo and Starling are excellent UK-native banks, Chase adds big-bank security and cashback, and Wise wins on multi-currency fees.
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