MILAN (ITALPRESS) – Qonto focuses on artificial intelligence, new credit tools and a future banking license to accompany the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in South Europe. Lorenzo Pireddu, Managing Director of Qonto for South Europe, interviewed by Claudio Brachino for the Italpress Economy TV magazine.
Born in France in 2017 at the initiative of Alexandre Prot and Steve Anavi, Qonto is today a current business account flanked by a series of financial instruments designed to simplify the administrative management of businesses and freelancers: from electronic billing to expense management, to business cards. “We were among the first to move on this segment,” said Pireddu, pointing out that the company now has about 1,700 employees in eight countries. Italy, the first international expansion market in 2019, remains strategic with Spain and Portugal, the three areas managed directly by the manager.
Among the most recent services is Company Creation, the consultancy developed together with the ITAdvisor’s firm to accompany those who want to start an enterprise in Italy in the choice of the most suitable corporate form and in all bureaucratic phases, from the notary to the opening of the INPS position, to the deposit of the capital and the opening of the current account. The goal, Pireddu explained, is “reducing those three months that today take us for four out of ten entrepreneurs to create an enterprise in Italy”.
As part of artificial intelligence, Qonto has recently launched support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which allows you to question your account directly through conversational agents such as ChatGPT or Claude, for example to know the balance or cash flows expected without opening the app. “Instead of entering my current account, I ask a question and he goes to take all the data,” Pireddu told, who sees how next step integration with management software and sales planning.
On the credit front, Qonto has introduced new tools dedicated to the “working capital” of the Pmi: a credit card with plafond up to 15,000 euros refundable the following month, a fido with interest calculated only on the amount used and a “pay side” formula to spread the payment of the invoices of the suppliers. “We are born from entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs,” said Pireddu, explaining that it is tools designed to respond to a widespread need: according to the data quoted by the manager, 50% of customers today resort to credit for liquidity needs and 84% expects to do so in the next year. In parallel, Qonto also launched the remuneration of liquidity deposited on corporate accounts.
Finally, the most structural novelty: in July 2025, Qonto filed in France a request for a bank licence, which would be accompanied by the current payment institution license. As Pireddu clarified, the free way, expected by the end of the year, would allow to expand the offer with more advanced credit tools and, in some markets like Spain, to introduce specific functions such as direct payment of social security contributions. “It is a natural step for a company that is becoming big,” said the manager, highlighting also the reputational value of a status comparable to that of the large European banking institutions.
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