Simple And Azlo Shutting Down - Here's What Happens Next

Banking apps Simple and Azlo will soon be shutting down, parent company BBVA USA announced today. These shutdowns seem to be part of PNC's impending acquisition of BBVA, which was announced back in November to the tune of $11.6 billion. As you might imagine, there are a number of Simple and Azlo users who are upset by this news, even as BBVA promises to migrate them to BBVA USA accounts in the future.

Simple's shutdown was confirmed earlier in the day in emails BBVA sent to users, some of which took to Twitter to share screenshots of the messages they'd received. The emails don't explain much, with BBVA saying that there will be "no immediate impact" to user accounts at Simple, nor is there anything users need to do at the moment. "In the future, your Simple account will become exclusively serviced by BBVA USA, but until then you can continue to access your account and your money through the Simple app or at Simple.com."

There has been no date given for the shutdown of Simple or Azlo, with the former being geared toward regular consumers and the latter serving as a mobile banking app for small businesses. In a statement to TechCrunch, BBVA indicated that this indeed part of the company's upcoming merger with PNC:

"We have taken the opportunity of the pending merger with PNC to reassess our goals for BBVA USA, so that 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," the statement reads. "As a result, today we're accelerating some changes and stopping work on others, including the closing of Simple. These reviews are part of our normal processes, and have resulted in other ventures being closed in the past year or so based on performance and the economic environment, including Covault (2020) and Denizen (2019)."

BBVA then goes onto reiterate what it said in the email it sent to Simple users, noting that those users will eventually be migrated to BBVA's service before becoming PNC customers after the acquisition closes. The company says that once the migration is complete, Simple users "will have access to a much broader suite of products and services, alongside the bank's award-winning mobile app, which includes BBVA Financial Tools."

The financial tools offered by Simple were a major draw for users, and at the moment, there's no telling if those features will live on in future versions of the BBVA app. For now, it seems that all Simple and Azlo users know for sure is that their days with these respective apps are numbered. We'll let you know when additional information is announced, so stay tuned for more.