Bank99 launches business accounts through Austrian postal network

Austria’s bank99 is expanding into small-business banking with a new range of accounts, savings products and payment cards, using the country’s extensive postal network to reach companies beyond major cities.

The Austrian Post-controlled lender announced the business99 offering on Monday, targeting sole traders, partnerships and incorporated companies. Its strategy combines digital account opening with access to banking assistance and cash services at post offices and postal partners throughout Austria.

Businesses can choose among three current accounts, smartkonto99 business, aktivkonto99 business and topkonto99 business, depending on turnover, transaction volumes and cash requirements. All three include online banking, a mobile application and a debit card, while customers can switch between packages as their requirements change.

The entry-level smart account is designed for businesses with annual incoming or outgoing payments below €250,000 and offers unlimited transaction entries. Monthly account charges start at €9.99 under the applicable turnover discount, compared with the standard €19.99 fee for that package. Larger businesses can select the other two account models.

Bernhard Hohenegger, the bank’s executive board member responsible for markets, said small and medium-sized enterprises were central to Austria’s economy, particularly outside metropolitan areas. The postal branch network, he said, gave bank99 a presence in precisely those communities where businesses needed accessible financial services.

The launch extends the lender’s operations beyond its established emphasis on personal banking. Bank99, which is 90 per cent owned by Austrian Post and 10 per cent by Schelhammer Capital Bank, serves more than 300,000 customers and operates through approximately 1,700 post offices and postal partners.

That distribution footprint provides a physical complement to the new digital products. Customers can deposit or withdraw cash at participating postal counters, while advisory appointments are available at branches. The bank also offers assistance by telephone and scheduled video consultations, allowing business owners to manage routine transactions online without relying exclusively on remote support.

Account applications can be completed digitally, and an electronic switching service is intended to help businesses transfer their payment arrangements. Eligible applicants include registered and unregistered sole proprietors, self-employed professionals, general and limited partnerships, and several forms of limited-liability company.

Bank99 is also introducing savings facilities intended for business reserves, including funds set aside for tax payments, seasonal changes in cash flow and investment. Its flexsparen99 business account provides instant-access savings without a minimum deposit, while fixsparen99 business offers fixed terms of six, 12 or 24 months.

The savings accounts are maintained separately from business current accounts but remain linked to them. Bank99 says no account-management fees apply to these savings products. New customers opening the flexible savings account are being offered an introductory annual interest rate of 2.75 per cent for the first three months.

An optional corporate credit card, supplied through card complete Service Bank, is available in Mastercard World Business Traveller Gold and Black versions. Benefits advertised for the cards include travel cancellation insurance and airport services, subject to the respective card conditions.

To encourage adoption, the bank is waiving business account fees for up to 12 months for qualifying new openings and offering the credit card without its fee for the first year. The concessions are introductory incentives rather than permanent changes to the published tariffs.

The business push follows bank99’s first profitable financial year in 2025, when it recorded a €1.1 million after-tax profit, reversing a €5.6 million loss the previous year. Its balance sheet reached €4.2 billion, while lending stood at €2 billion and its refinancing base at €3.7 billion.

Bank99 had identified the gradual development of a defined small-business segment as a priority for 2026, initially concentrating on deposits. Austrian Post subsequently indicated that current accounts for smaller companies would be introduced during the fourth quarter, placing this week’s announcement within that timetable.

The expansion also places greater emphasis on businesses that continue to handle physical cash alongside electronic payments. Bank99 has previously highlighted substantial demand for cash access: it said withdrawals at its own cash machines exceeded €466 million from October 2025 to June 2026. That figure relates to existing banking activity, not uptake of the newly introduced business accounts.

The lender’s wider network includes approximately 350 directly operated postal branches and more than 1,340 postal partners. Although the wider postal system has additional self-service points, the bank identifies its staffed postal locations as the relevant network for counter transactions and customer assistance.