Transcreation · FR + ES · in-house
This is how I bank
A three-word English line with no French verb to stand on.
Context
N26 built a global campaign around a single, deceptively simple line: This is how I bank. First person, present tense, quietly proud — a customer claiming their own way of handling money. It had to run across markets without losing that ownership. My job: France and Spain.
The challenge
English has a verb, to bank. French and Spanish don’t — not in everyday speech. You cannot say « C’est comme ça que je banque » or « Así es como banqueo » without sounding broken. Translate literally and the line collapses. The whole campaign hinged on a verb that only exists in one of the three languages.
The thinking
So I stopped chasing the verb and chased the feeling underneath it: my rules, my way, on my terms. The English brags about an action; the Romance languages brag better about a stance. Drop the verb, keep the ownership. Instead of “how I do banking,” say “banking, my way” — the possessive does the work the verb did in English. Same pride, same first person, zero translationese.
The copy
This is how I bank.
La banque à ma façon.
Zéro paperasse. La banque à ma façon.
Depuis mon téléphone, à 2 h du matin. La banque à ma façon.
El banco, a mi manera.
Sin papeleo, sin colas. El banco, a mi manera.
Craft notes
What you lose: the verb to bank is punchy and modern — very fintech. French and Spanish can’t match that compression.
What you win: the possessive (“my way / a mi manera”) sounds more personal in Romance languages than the English ever did — banking becomes a stance, not a chore.
The trap avoided: « gérer mon argent » (manage my money) was the safe translation. It’s accurate and dead — it describes admin, not attitude. The line isn’t about money management; it’s about self-determination. Guard the attitude, not the vocabulary.
Credits
Result
A line that reads as if it was born in French and in Spanish — same swagger as the English, no seams showing. Rolled out across FR and ES market touchpoints. [Performance metrics to be supplied by Julien if shareable.]