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by okanat 272 days ago
Well not in Germany. Some banks accept their branded authenticators, some of them don't.

ING in Germany forces you to either have a single Google approved smartphone or a single authenticator, not both.

DKB requires a paid Girocard to use the authenticator or a Google approved smartphone.

N26 requires a single phone but they are a bit lenient. However they have way too many incidents reported where they closed people's accounts without a reason.

The traditional banks have high fees. One pays upwards 10 - 15 Euros a month for Sparkasse or Commerzbank for a simple checking account. Using Sparkasse means you cannot deposit money outside county (yes county and country) borders. Many traditional banks have high fees for withdrawing outside the network.

So one is forced to choose between modern banks with better online experience that's tied to Google and Apple or a traditional bank with oftentimes awful online experience and high fees.
2 comments
riedel 272 days ago
My German bank started to require an Android or IOS smartphone [0]. No dedicated HW, no desktop. I actually dumped my well working Xiaomi Phone because it was either security or banking.

[0] https://www.1822direkt.de/service/fragen-und-antworten/detai...

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okanat 272 days ago
I actually considered switching to 1822direkt last year. No more!
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riedel 271 days ago
They used to be ahead of the bunch 20 years ago. They sent out PGP encrypted transaction statements if you wanted. Then they degraded. I think of switching to a normal Sparkasse, they typically even can do account creation with EID l, have Wero and allow 2FA Hardware.

Absurd thing is that 1822 claims to make things much more secure but their 2FA reset with a single phone PIN is a joke.

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generic92034 272 days ago
> So one is forced to choose between modern banks with better online experience that's tied to Google and Apple or a traditional bank with oftentimes awful online experience and high fees.

I do not understand how you are coming to that conclusion regarding modern banks. You can use the authentication device, which is completely independent of Google or Apple.

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