Series entrepreneur Joaquín Ayuso de Paul sold one of his companies to Telefónica and in 2018 he founded Denizen, a ‘startup fintech’ based in San Francisco and Madrid that offers “truly global” banking services. The goal of the ‘startup’ is to eliminate stress, complications and commissions from the administration of bank accounts in other countries.
Digital banking BBVA ‘startup’, Denizen, offers the first truly global bank account The firm, which has just launched its services in the United States and Spain, offers a bank account for expatriates or people who live or work in more than one country . The service, which operates through APIs, is one of the first tangible examples of ‘open banking’ and the deployment of the PSD2.
Question: How did you enter the ‘fintech’ sector?
Answer: Actually, my first business was a social network! It was one of the most popular social platforms in Spain, Tuenti. I founded it in 2006 and sold it to Telefónica in 2010 for 100 million dollars.
After Tuenti, I made some informal investments in several companies and, later, I founded Kuapay, one of the main providers of mobile payments in Latin America, which in addition to operating as an electronic purse, offered customer loyalty programs for businesses. When I was planning to take a sabbatical from Kuapay, a member of the BBVA team came up with me to create a customized ‘fintech’ product for BBVA.
Q: What does Denizen do?
A: Denizen is the first truly global world bank account for expats. While others are trying to facilitate international transfers, Denizen is completely eliminating the need to make transfers.
Currently, national borders act as barriers to the free movement of money, inhibiting people and limiting the potential of global trade. Denizen simplifies banking operations for expatriates and global citizens, providing a service without any border.
Our service helps users access their finances anywhere and pay all their international bills faster and more easily. By providing customers with a unified account and a global ATM card, it is faster, easier and more affordable to obtain instant financial status information, as well as to manage funds internationally.
Also published on Medium.