Raisin launches pan-European savings marketplace

Raisin, previously known as SavingGlobal, has launched its pan-European savings marketplace, expanding for the first time beyond its home country of Germany and neighboring Austria. And in doing so it’s attempting to crack open the savings deposit market in Europe, taking advantage of EU-wide banking regulation and potentially letting savers in Europe more easily shop around for a better savings rate regardless of where in Europe they are located.

In August, in preparation for today’s European launch, the Berlin-based fintech startup raised €20 million in Series B funding led by Palo Alto-based Ribbit Capital and London’s Index Ventures. Yuri Milner and Tom Stafford also participated, whilst the round brought total amount raised by the 2013 founded startup to €30 million.

Specifically, the problem that Raisin has set out to solve is that saving deposit rates differ not only from one local bank offer to another but even more strikingly across Europe as a whole. The company’s marketplace, which is now open to customers in 30 countries, lets you shop around and compare different rates European-wide.

In addition, opening a deposit account offered by a bank outside of your home country typically requires applying directly, including filing the local anti-money laundering and proof of identity paperwork, often in-person. Yet the regulation already exists that allows for one bank to essentially vouch for you to another.

That’s where Raisin’s model and technology kicks in. By partnering with a local bank, where funds are deposited and anti-money laundering checks passed, it acts as a gateway to accessing the various savings deposit offers listed on the site.

In practical terms, the startup offers a single UI to enable you to apply and open each deposit account and manage funds, a bit similar to how various accounts might show up in a single bank’s online service/app, even though they are with different banks and operating in different countries. As we’ve noted before, this is non-trivial from a tech standpoint since there isn’t a single standard; each bank has its own API or legacy interface.

To that end, Neil Rimer, partner at Raisin backer Index Ventures, says in a statement: “Banks across Europe will be for the first time competing for deposits from customers across Europe. More competition means better interest rates for savers and more funding for banks that offer the best rates.”

That’s something to be welcomed.