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Online banker Simple, once among Portland’s most promising tech companies, is closing down
Updated Jan 08, 2021;
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Online banker Simple, one of Portland’s most prominent tech businesses for the past decade, is shutting down as part of its parent bank’s own sale process.
Simple notified employees of the pending closure Wednesday and told customers Thursday, calling it a “strategic decision.” Simple told clients it will transfer their accounts to BBVA but set no timetable for the change.
In November, BBVA announced it would sell its U.S. business to PNC Financial Services Group for $11.6 billion.
“We’re focused on the things that make the most sense for the company’s future whether on a standalone basis or a potentially combined basis with PNC,” BBVA said in a written statement Thursday. BBVA is also shutting down two other financial technology services it owns, Azlo and Open Platform.
Portland online banking service Simple shutting down ahead of parent company’s acquisition
January 7, 2021 at 11:29 am
(Simple Photo)
Simple, the Portland-based online banking company with a presence in Seattle, is shutting down due to the sale of banking giant BBVA USA.
Founded in New York in 2009 and moved to Portland in 2011, the company was one of Portland’s most prominent tech startups. Simple opened a Seattle office in 2017 in the Pioneer Square neighborhood, employing people working in engineering, product, marketing, and other roles.
Simple was acquired for $117 million in 2014 by Spain’s BBVA, which announced in November that it was selling its U.S. business to PNC Financial Services Group for $11.6 billion.