Zenus Bank, a Puerto Rico-based digital bank that allows people and businesses around the world to open a US bank account, has delayed its US launch until next year as the Covid-19 pandemic slows down systems development.
Set for launch in Q4, Zenus has been building up its technology stack, contracting with third party suppliers such as Nice Actimize and Fortress and establishing Visa principal membership.
In June, the putative bank - which is firmly targeted at customers in emerging economies- hired seasoned banking veteran John Woods to oversee global marketing strategy, advertising, sponsorship, customer acquisition and the launch of the new online-only bank.
The launch date has now put back to "early 2021" but Zenus is still bullish and has signed up some 50,000 people pre-launch.
States the bank: "Establishing a regulatory compliant bank involves developing a lot of systems and procedures which need to meet all the right governmental and industry requirements. To do this we are working with a number of partners around the world. Some of our partners have been restricted by Covid-19 and in turn our development has been slowed."