Co-founder of Raisin, Dr Frank Freund. Image: Raisin
The German fintech company targeted Ireland as it has ‘the lowest retail interest rates in Europe’.
Today (1 October), Berlin-based savings and investment marketplace Raisin announced that it is launching its savings product in Ireland.
In a press release about the launch of Raisin.ie, the company said it was targeting Ireland due to the poor interest rates currently available to savers.
“Irish savers have faced the lowest retail interest rates in Europe, blocked from earning more than on average 0.03pc on their savings according to the ECB’s most recent data,” it said.
“Meanwhile, prohibitive logistical hurdles have prevented Irish consumers from accessing higher rates in other parts of the European Union. At the same time, Irish banks collecting ever more deposits at near 0pc rates had to pay €84m in negative interest penalties to the European Central Bank in 2018 due to the excess cash on their balance sheets.”
The fintech savings platform said it is offering up to 1.2pc on term deposits on its savings marketplace, giving Irish savers the opportunity to earn up to three times more on their savings. It added that Irish banks will be able to provide their own customers with a range of deposit products by integrating Raisin’s offers into their own platforms.
Alejandro McCormack, business developer manager for the Irish market. Image: Raisin
Focus on fintech
Fintech start-up Raisin was founded in 2012 by Dr Tamaz Georgadze (CEO), Dr Frank Freund (CFO) and Michael Stephan (COO). It now offers an open banking platform for online savings and investments for customers across Europe, claiming that it has delivered more than €115m in interest to its 200,000 savers across Europe.
Earlier this year, it acquired Frankfurt-based MHB-Bank, which now operates under the name Raisin Bank. While maintaining its traditional focus on loan portfolio servicing, the bank is also expanding into banking-as-a-service partnerships, especially for Europe’s fast-growing community of fintech companies.
Raisin has been in headlines a few more times over the summer: Goldman Sachs invested €25m in the firm back in July, and the start-up acquired Fairr in August to offer users pension products.
Dr Frank Freund, chairman of the supervisory board of Raisin Bank and co-founder of Raisin, said: “Raisin Bank is enlarging its focus on fintech and digital banking – areas driving the customer-centric direction of retail banking today.
“We were thus eager to take this opportunity to lead on the launch of a Raisin platform in such an important market. With the Raisin.ie marketplace, Raisin Bank is enabling Irish customers to significantly increase their profits on deposits by connecting them in a simple, transparent way to competitive offers on the continent.”
Alejandro McCormack, business development manager for the Irish market at Raisin, added: “By removing the barriers to access and collecting good deals from across the European Economic Area all in one place, Raisin Bank’s Irish platform aims to bring dynamism back into a huge sector of the economy: savings.
“We put more money into regular people’s pockets when we democratise deposits. So we’re thrilled to be able to offer Irish consumers the ability to earn real interest on their savings.”
Updated, 11.50am, 1 October 2019: This article was updated to clarify that Raisin acquired MHB-Bank, now Raisin Bank, earlier this year.
