Irish savers looking to boost the meagre return they’re being offered on their deposits can now access a new pan-European platform, which is promising returns of as much as 2.2 per cent on term deposits.
Raisin. com has just launched across Europe, including Ireland, allowing Irish savers to access the online platform to shop around for the best deposit rates across Europe. While the platform currently has just two banking partners active on the site - J&T Banka from the Czech Republic and Poland's Alior Bank - a spokesman said that the intention is to build up the platform and expand the number of banks participating. If the platform does increase the number of partners on the site, it could offer a real competitive alternative for Irish savers.
The platform was founded by alumni from McKinsey, Deutsche Banke and Goldman Sachs, and acts like a broker to European banks, removing the difficulties in cross-border deposits such as language obstacles, by funnelling deposits on behalf of consumers to partner banks. With its German and European platforms, Raisin has already brokered close to €1 billion on to banks from 12 different European countries and counts over 35,000 registered customers. Through a single-user interface customers can manage their savings online – at no cost.
The best rate on the site at present is a 10-year fixed rate of 2.2 per cent from the aforementioned J&T Banka (not dissimilar to the 2.26% offered by the 10-year solidarity bond from State Savings). On a shorter term of one-year, Alior Bank offers 1.6 per cent, which compares well with the best Irish rates of 1 per cent or so.
All deposits at partner banks are covered by respective national deposit guarantee schemes, typically €100,000. While both Poland and the Czech Republic are not part of the Euro zone, Raisin.com says that savers will incur no exchange rate risk as long as the term deposit is made in euro.
The site first came to the attention of Irish savers when it was revealed that AIB had joined the company's German platform, Weltsparen, and was offering savers returns of up to 1.4 per cent - considerably more than the state-owned bank was offering Irish savers. AIB has not partnered with the pan-European version of the site, but is still offering deals to Germans on Weltsparen.de, albeit at a lower rate of 0.5 per cent on a one year fixed deposit.
