The liquidation of Swoon, the Lille neobank, is a real ordeal for its customers. Contrary to what the silence of the media in recent months suggests, there are still dozens of individuals waiting for a good day to arrive so that they can get their money back.
Only, one of them regretted: “we will only have our eyes to cry”, he said to our colleagues from La Voix du Nord. He joined a class action suit with 47 other former Swoon customers, hoping to get out of a mess worth several thousand euros, evaporated for nine months already.
Progress in the Swoon case
As a reminder, Swoon closed in July 2021 after an activity as a fintech offering a savings account remunerated at 3%. Between that moment and its launch in 2018, the establishment prided itself on disrupting the market and more than 5,000 customers opened an account there, without knowing the nightmare that awaited them.
One of them, interviewed by the Hauts-de-France newspaper, explained that he had invested more than 17,000 euros from his savings. He is one of the last not to have been taken care of, although he has complied with the procedures requested by Swoon.
In September 2021, the former CEO of the neobank, Quendin Haddouche, said that they were less than 500, then 140 in November. To date, their number is not precisely known, but the class action launched by Me Christophe Lèguevaques has 48 individuals still waiting for their funds.
The case is ongoing in the Lille court and the former boss gave between 1 and 2% of the share of former customers to be reimbursed. As in September 2021, during his first speech since the start of the case, he put forward a “question of time”. For him, Swoon could not reimburse customers directly as the money they had invested had to be returned first by the companies profiting from the invested capital.
It is difficult to know in detail the use of the funds, as the neobank has called on a banking partner by the name of “Financière de Garantie” to manage the funds of its former customers. For nearly ten months, it is through this vagueness that Swoon spares its customers. "We have filed a criminal complaint against X for illegal exercise of the profession of banker and for fraud", wanted to point out the lawyer of a client.
Another recourse at N26
For the last customers concerned and to settle the damages of others, the Commercial Court of Lille will deliver its verdict on April 15. A particular echo to another class action launched by 530 customers of the German neobank N26.
Torn by regulators who suspect it of being a gateway to money laundering activities, the establishment has an unfortunate tendency to close the accounts of its users without much warning. Note that N26 has more than 2 million customers in France compared to Swoon's 5000. All proportion kept therefore.
