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First German bank offers deposits on Raisin Netherlands savings marketplace
The Dutch platform of Raisin, Europe’s leading online savings marketplace, has welcomed its first German bank, representing the seventh country to take an interest in the Dutch savings market through Raisin. This new partnership spells a critical geographical expansion for the platform. It also indicates the developing hunger of banks for access to key markets, where European banks offering higher interest rates can beat the pervasive low interest environment and collect high quality retail deposits. Raisin’s Dutch platform has grown continuously since launch in September 2019: in addition to German North Channel Bank, other new Raisin partner banks LHV Bank and Coop Pank, both of Estonia, and the BFF Banking Group of Italy, have brought the total number of partner banks for Raisin Netherlands to nine, and the number of products Dutch savers can choose from on Raisin.nl to 43.
Raisin features highest interest rates in the Netherlands
Enabling Dutch consumers to open deposits with banks across the European Economic Area, Raisin features interest rates many times higher than the Dutch can find locally. Interest rates at Dutch banks have remained low, with European Central Bank policy making it impossible to rule out negative rates.* Banks across Europe have noticed the appetite, and the size, of the savings market in the Netherlands: its total domestic household deposits exceed 430 billion Euro, with the average Dutch household maintaining over 55,000 Euro in deposits, even higher than Germany’s average. The sharp increase in banks joining the Raisin platform is just one indicator of the ambition of European banks to take advantage of the savings market in the Netherlands, as well as low Dutch interest rates and the country’s exceptionally high internet banking penetration rate of 89%.
Raisin’s partner banks offer the highest interest rates available in the Netherlands. European Central Bank data suggest that the average rate for a 1-year deposit in the Netherlands is over 1.25%. However, a closer look at the deposits market in the Netherlands reveals that that rate is distorted through a Dutch rate for a renovation- and construction-directed deposit product included in mortgages, the “construction depot.” Without the exceptionally high rate offered solely on this type of deposit product, retail interest rates available to Dutch consumers are drastically lower: for instance the average rate on a 1-year term deposit from the Netherlands’ three largest banks is 0.07%, as of Raisin’s most recent research. The three top offers on the Dutch market, meanwhile, only averaged 0.62% for the same length term deposit, making Raisin’s 0.9% on 1-year offer a notable advantage for savers, with rates of up to 1.6% p.a. on other term deposits.
Eelco Habets, Raisin Netherlands Country Head pointed to the benefits for consumers: “By increasing the number of banks and countries of origin available on Raisin Netherlands, we’re responding to the growing demand for higher-interest foreign savings products. In addition, the growing number of banks reinforces Raisin’s advantage as a marketplace, where customers can open a new deposit with a bank and country of their choice within 2 minutes, without having to re-register or re-identify themselves with that bank.”
* See Raisin’s recent Interest Rate Radar newsletters, e.g. September or October.
About Raisin
A trailblazer for open banking and the leading pan-European one-stop shop for online savings and investments, Berlin-based fintech Raisin was founded in 2012 by Dr. Tamaz Georgadze (CEO), Dr. Frank Freund (CFO) and Michael Stephan (COO). Raisin’s platforms — under the brand WeltSparen in the German-speaking world — are breaking down barriers to better savings for European consumers and SMEs: Raisin’s marketplace offers simple access at no charge to attractive and guaranteed deposit products from all over Europe, as well as globally diversified, cost-effective ETF portfolios and pension products (currently available in Germany). With one online registration, customers can choose from all available investments and subsequently manage their accounts. Since launch in 2013, Raisin has brokered 17.5 billion EUR for more than 220,000 customers in 28+ European countries and 87 partner banks. Raisin was named to Europe’s top 5 fintechs by the renowned FinTech50 awards and is backed by prestigious European and American investors such as btov Ventures, Goldman Sachs, PayPal Ventures, Thrive Capital, Index Ventures, Orange Digital Ventures and Ribbit Capital. Raisin UK in Manchester, banking-as-a-service provider Raisin Bank in Frankfurt and pensions specialist fairr all belong to Raisin.