How are Shared Spaces legally structured?
The owner and the participants of a Shared Space do not have equal ownership of the Shared Space or the money in it. The legal model behind Shared Spaces is called Power of Attorney (in German: Kontovollmacht).
The creator of a Shared Space is called the Owner. The owner is the account holder and can invite other N26 customers to join their Shared Space. By inviting a customer to join a Space, the owner is granting a Power of Attorney. If the invited customer accepts the invitation they've become a participant of that Space. By virtue of the Power of Attorney the participant can legally transfer funds to and from the Shared Space on behalf of the owner, i.e. the creator of the Shared Space.
The owner of a Shared Space legally owns all the funds of a Shared Space so long as those funds are in the Shared Space.
Only the owner can invite others to join the Shared Space as participants. Only the owner can remove any participant at any time. A given participant can only remove themselves at any given time and leave the Shared Space. Once a participant leaves a Shared Space or ie removed from a Shared Space they loose access to the money in that Space.
Transfers to and from a Shared Space initiated by participants who are trusted beneficiaries do not need to be authenticated via Pin and Push notification. European banking law regulates how bank transfers must be authorised. In this law strong customer authentication (SCA) is a requirement to make online payments more secure. However, one exception to this is the classification of a person in a Shared Space as a “trusted beneficiary” so that transfers to this person do not require SCA.
*N26 Bank AG cannot be held liable for payments covered by the Power of Attorney.