Banking

Austria’s Bank99 Bets on Post Offices to Win Small Businesses

co-produced by AI03. November 2026, 07:59

Bernhard Hohenegger, board member for markets at bank99. © bank99 / Sabine Klimpt

Qonto, Holvi, N26 and the rest have apps; Bank99 has the post office. The banking arm of Austrian Post is entering the business banking market with Business99. The package of business accounts, a corporate credit card and savings products is aimed at sole proprietors, freelancers, partnerships and corporations, including GmbHs, AGs and Austria’s new FlexKapG flexible companies. Accounts can be opened entirely online.

Bank99 is entering a crowded market. Established banks such as Erste Bank and the savings banks, Raiffeisen, Bank Austria and BAWAG have long offered business accounts. Digital providers are pushing in as well: The French neobank Qonto launched in Austria in the fall of 2024 and is seeking a banking license to offer loans, while the Finnish platform Holvi has opened an office in Austria. Finom from the Netherlands and the business offerings of N26 and Revolut round out the field.

Three Account Models Starting at €9.99

Bank99 offers three versions, depending on revenue, transaction volume and cash needs. Customers can switch between them at any time, and online banking, the app and a debit card are always included.

Smartkonto99 Business: The entry-level model with unlimited transactions costs €19.99 a month. As long as annual incoming or outgoing payments stay below €250,000, customers get a €10 discount, bringing the price to €9.99 a month.
Aktivkonto99 Business and Topkonto99 Business: The two larger models are aimed at businesses with higher revenue.
Sparen99 Business: For reserves, such as tax prepayments, there is an instant-access savings account with no minimum deposit and fixed-term deposits of six, 12 or 24 months, all without account fees.
Credit card: Customers can add a Mastercard World Business Traveller from card complete in Gold or Black, which includes access to the VIENNA Lounge and FastTrack at Vienna Airport.

Bank99 is launching with discounts. Businesses that open an account by the end of the year pay no account fees for six months, or for 12 months if they also use the account switching service. The credit card is free for the first year, and new customers get 2.75 percent interest on the savings account for three months.

How Bank99 Wants to Stand Out

On price alone, Bank99 cannot beat the neobanks. Holvi, for example, offers the basic version of its Holvi Flex business account with no monthly fee. The postal bank is betting instead on something online-only providers lack: about 1,700 post offices and postal partner outlets across Austria.

Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of the Austrian economy, especially outside the big cities, and that is exactly where Bank99’s branch network is, said Bernhard Hohenegger, the board member responsible for markets at Bank99. Business99 offers companies a lean, transparent package of account, card and savings products that can be used digitally and comes with on-site support, he added.

In practice, that means advice by phone, by video appointment or in branches. Cash is another factor: For many tradespeople, restaurant owners and retailers in rural areas, it is still part of daily business. Bank99 explicitly lets cash needs guide the choice of account model, while online-only banks have no counters of their own. Another selling point is the combination of an account and interest-bearing savings at an Austrian bank with a full banking license.

In the long run, Bank99 wants to be more than an account provider. Mr. Hohenegger said the goal is to become the first point of contact for companies on financial matters, from the first payroll account to business financing. A business loan, however, is not yet part of the package.

Only Recently Profitable

For Bank99, business customers are also a question of profitability. The postal bank, founded in 2020, later took over ING’s retail business in Austria. It broke even for the first time in 2025, posting an after-tax profit of €1.1 million after a loss of €5.6 million the year before. Total assets stood at €4.2 billion and loans at €2 billion, and the bank serves more than 300,000 customers.

Bank99 had already announced plans to build a small-business unit in 2026. Whether its branches will make the difference remains to be seen. The neobanks are growing fast: Qonto recently counted more than 600,000 business customers in Europe and aims to triple that number to two million by 2030.