Raisin Launches X-Border Savings Platform

A FinTech startup is aiming to break down the banking borders between countries in Europe.

TechCrunch reports that Berlin-based Raisin (formerly known as SavingGlobal) has launched a pan-European savings marketplace, marking the company’s first-ever expansion beyond Germany and Austria.

Raisin’s cross-border venture, notes the outlet, stands poised to leverage the fact that banking regulations are uniform across all regions in the European Union and open up the possibility for banking customers throughout Europe to seek out savings rates for their financial holdings that may be superior to that which are available in their local region.

In contrast to the situation regarding banking regulations in the EU, as the TechCrunch story explains, saving deposit rates vary significantly from country to country within Europe (as well as, of course, between different banks at the local level, albeit to a lesser degree).

By opening up its marketplace throughout the EU (the outlet notes that Raisin’s offering currently reaches 30 of Europe’s 51 — or 48, if considering the U.K. as one nation collectively — countries), Raisin is thereby freeing savings consumers from being necessarily hamstrung by local rates that may be less than preferable in comparison to those beyond their immediate borders.

Raisin is able to overcome the procedural hassles that EU citizens commonly face in opening up a deposit account outside of their home country, explains TechCrunch, by partnering with banks at the local level (wherever users would make their deposits) to effectively become a gateway through which consumers can gain access — all within a single interface — to the variety of rates and related offers that are available throughout the marketplace.

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

The outlet adds that Raisin — which was founded in 2013 — has been gearing up for this cross-border undertaking for some time, most recently (in August) having raised €20 million (approximately $22.7 million) in a Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital and the aforementioned Index Ventures.