Only 368 new banks survive globally, two-thirds of which do not have a banking license

According to the open-source dataset from NeobankBeat as of July 2026, there are 368 neobanks globally that are still actively operating, serving approximately 1.46 billion users. Among them, Asian users account for 817 million (with WeBank alone serving over 400 million people), and Brazil's Nubank has 131 million customers, surpassing the total of all U.S. neobanks. Out of the 368, only 127 hold a full banking license, with two-thirds relying on partner banks, electronic money licenses, or issuing institutions to operate, leaving customers largely unaware of the actual custodian of their funds.

Among the neobanks established in the 2020s that are still alive today, 30% are Web3 native self-custody applications (compared to only 4% in the 2010s). This dataset audits the AI application status of the 368 one by one, revealing that only 67 (18%) have evidence of production-level AI deployment, with leaders mostly being lending institutions from emerging markets like Nigeria, the Philippines, and Mexico. The report warns that 106 infrastructure providers support 368 consumer brands, with a few partner banks and BaaS platforms each supporting dozens of brands, creating concentration risk that could lead to the next Synapse-like event.