European banking app Monese partners with deposits marketplace Raisin

Monese, the European banking app aimed at customers with a ‘thin’ credit file or those who have moved country, is launching “Monese Savings” in partnership with fintech Raisin.

The new feature sees Monese customers gain access to Raisin’s cross-border deposits marketplace so that they can shop around for a competitive interest rate via the various European banks signed up to Raisin. It will initially be available to Monese personal account customers in the U.K., Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, and Spain.

As an example of what’s on offer, Monese says its U.K. customers can access rates of up to 2.20% AER via Wyelands Bank’s 5 years Fixed Term Deposit product. Shorter terms with different rates are available from other Raisin marketplace-supported banks and products.

“With a broad choice of Raisin’s more than 500 competitive, transnational savings products, available from over 80 partner banks located across the entire European Economic Area, Monese users will be able to select their preferred deposit in a new streamlined process,” says Monese.

As Monese Savings gets further developed, the plans, says the London startup, is to offer “seamless” savings account access and management all within the Monese app. This will soon facilitate automated recurring payments to make saving regularly more convenient.

Monese Savings sit alongside “Pots,” Monese’s non-interest bearing savings accounts, which were introduced in May 2019. This is more of a budgeting tool, rather than long-term savings where you’d expect to earn interest.

Notably, Monese is disclosing that it now has over 1.4 million signups, claiming that customer growth tripled in 2018 and that over 100,000 people are joining Monese every month. Demand for Monese across mainland Europe surpassed that of the U.K. in November 2018, says the fintech, and in March 2019, two-thirds of all sign-ups to Monese were in mainland Europe.

A year ago, Monese raised $60 million in Series B funding. Leading the round was Kinnevik, with participation from PayPal, Augmentum Fintech, International Airlines Group via its loyalty and data business Avios Group Ltd., and Investec’s INVC Fund.