Built a successful on-line consumer bank

Bankia Bank (now Santander Consumer Bank) was founded in 2001 as a pure Internet-based niche bank in Norway offering fee-free Visa credit cards and high interest rate saving accounts. Bankia utilized newly available web- and call centre technology to serve its customer base in an efficient manner and without any physical branch locations. The company used aggressive marketing combined with a low operational cost base to ensure a highly profitable high growth business. This attracted Banco Santander which acquired Bankia as a part of entering the Norwegian market. Bankia Bank was based in Oslo and has since 2005 been part of Banco Santander.

• Established a well-known local brand.
• Strong growth from zero to more than 100.000 customers over four years.
• Building a low cost operation of less than 20 employees resulting in high profitability.

Invested in 2001.
Sold to Banco Santander in 2005 and renamed Santander Consumer Bank .
Co-investor: Kistefos Venture Capital

http://www.gebyrfri.no