TBC Bank Group PLC (“TBC PLC”) announces that it has decided to further extend the internationalization strategy of its neobanking platform Space and launch it in Germany in order to leverage the country’s startup-friendly environment and the growing Georgian diaspora.
Space will be partnering with a local bank and our value proposition will include daily banking products and services as well as lending, remittances, international utility payments and multilingual customer care service. While Space will own the relationship with the customers, the local partner will provide the balance sheet for lending activities and ensure fulfilment of all regulatory requirements. Space will be mainly focusing on Georgian citizens living in Germany.
The launch is anticipated to take place in the second half of 2020 and will be using the Georgia-based Space team and infrastructure to scale up. The total cost of the launch is estimated to be around GEL 4 million in 2020.
After the successful launch of this model on the German market, Space will be exploring opportunities in other European markets with a significant Georgian migrant population, also leveraging TBC’s initiative in Uzbekistan.
Space is Georgia’s first fully-digital bank, which offers a full range of daily banking products and services, including:
o Instant consumer loans;
o Mobile top-up and bill payment;
o Instant money transfer to any bank;
o Digital wallet functionality;
o Savings; and
o Cash back.
The beta launch phase of Space in Georgia finished in October 2018. As of 31 December 2019 it attracted 181,000 customers, while its loan book amounted to GEL 27 million.
