General information

Population

17.6M

Online population

17.4M

Currency

EUR

Market overview

Population - 17.6M

At the start of 2024, 93.3% of the Netherlands’ population lived in urban centres, while 6.7% lived in rural areas.

Internet penetration - 99%

There were 17.4M internet users in the Netherlands at the start of 2024

FinTech Outlook: Trends, Insight & Technology

The Netherlands has a strong business climate for FinTechs, with its digital infrastructure, world-renowned culture, fluency in English, highly skilled workers and central geographical location being key factors.

There are several hubs throughout the Netherlands, including Amsterdam (financial sector), Rotterdam (international trade), and Delft and Eindhoven (technical universities), which together contribute to the Netherlands’ thriving FinTech climate.

The Netherlands is home to ‘traditional’ FinTech businesses (payments, asset management, credit provision) as well as more specialised forms of financial innovators, operating under buzzing common denominators, such as InsurTech, BigTech, PensionTech, RegTech and LegalTech. The Netherlands remains an attractive location for international fintech investors.

• The Netherlands host 850+ FinTech companies, financial institutions, and tech businesses
• The Netherlands is the EU’s second-largest FinTech industry, and third in VC funding
• The Netherlands hosts Europe’s third biggest startup and fifth largest scaleup community
• Amsterdam is world’s sixth city for Green Finance

Ranked 3rd best European city for startups and 5th for scale-ups, Amsterdam is only part of our success story. The Netherlands as a whole has the EU’s second-largest FinTech industry, and is 3rd in VC funding.

De Brauw's chapter in the 2024 edition of The International Comparative Legal Guide - FinTech provides a detailed overview of the FinTech landscape, market developments, and regulatory regime in the Netherlands. The chapter reflects on the Netherlands' position as a global frontrunner in FinTech, highlighting its strong business climate, digital infrastructure, and innovative companies such as Adyen, CM.com, Floryn, Mollie, bunq, Buckaroo and Bitfury.

The Netherlands has among the lowest rates of cash use in the world. Cash accounted for 7% of POS transaction value in 2023. Ubiquitous card acceptance (including increasing contactless debit card use) and rising mobile payments among a 100% banked population will drive cash use down further, to a projected 5% of POS transaction value by 2027.

Debit cards are the leading payment method at the POS, having gradually displaced cash over the past decade. Debit cards accounted for 60% of POS transaction value in 2023.

Banks