The constant low interest rates at Tagesgeld and fixed deposits in Germany are increasingly looking for savers for alternatives. Online portals promise attractive interest rates, for example from Estonia or Portugal. But the risk of investing there is higher.
Anyone who wants to earn money with largely risk-free investment products such as call money, time deposits or the good old savings account looks pretty old for years: More than interest rates with a zero before the decimal point are usually impossible to do and even for long-term deposits there is little more than that Inflation rate – depending on the financial institution not even that.
The original German virtues of saving and retirement have been cracking in the last few years. The many years of low interest rates from the European Central Bank are leaving a few frustrated.
Online platforms, which advertise attractive interest rates on overnight and fixed-term deposits at foreign banks, are just right for many savers. The interest portals are increasingly attracting savers – also because many Germans shy away from riskier investment alternatives such as equities. But is saving on portals such as world saving or interest rate pilot really as risk-free as the providers explain?
Mediator role in the daily allowance
For example, the Berlin-based company Raisin, which operates the world saving platform in Germany, has reported more than € 10 billion in deposits to partner banks in Europe. Since December 2017, the volume of around four billion has more than doubled, reveals the successful fintech startup.
After all, the customers of such portals should have a great advantage over those who open an account directly with the respective bank, if this is possible with a German residence at all: Since the account is managed through world saving (or a comparable portal), the customer must Do not expect that he has to deal with the bank directly. How problematic that can be, know about 30,000 German savers, who ten years ago had their money at the Icelandic Kaupthing Bank.
Apart from that, it could also take months for world savers and other portals until savers get their deposits back when a bank is in financial distress. Incidentally, including the interest accrued until then, since these are already calculated as paid – customers should therefore not go to the limit of deposit insurance.
Raisin offers daily and fixed deposits from 62 partner banks in Italy, Portugal, Cyprus or Estonia. Thus, there are up to 0.7 percent daily interest and 1.85 percent for fixed-term over five years. Not lavish, but more than most investors get from German banks. The advantage of the portals: At a glance, customers see the best interest rates in Europe and do not have to open an account with a foreign bank.
How much confidence you have in the respective banks, everyone has to decide for themselves. It is advisable, however, to obtain information about the creditworthiness of the respective bank and the situation in the respective state via external, reputable sources. Anyone who can not or does not want to assess this should, in fact, and especially in the age of the European internal market, count on institutions in his home market.
Versobank: Customers came away with a black eye
The market shares of the interest rate portals are still low in view of 2.3 trillion euros in overnight and time deposits and savings deposits in Germany and 6.3 trillion in Europe. But even large investors jump on the trend. Recently put a group of lenders to the US Paypal Paypal 100 million euros in Raisin.
The startup now wants to expand abroad and expand its offer. It is clear that the market offers potential – at least for customers who trust the banks behind it. Stiftung Warentest, like the Finanztip portal, is skeptical of many offers: “Some of the partner banks are located in countries whose economic power rating agencies consider much worse than Germany’s. In our opinion, it is not certain that the deposit insurance will work there in any case, “explains Finanztip.
But Raisin is not the only provider of such interest portals. With the portals Zinspilot and Savedo, competitor Deposit Solutions has also already acquired 175,000 customers with more than € 12 billion in investment funds. At the end of 2017, it was still four billion euros, according to company information. The company is active in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and, most recently, also in Switzerland.
On average savers invested € 30,000 to € 40,000 in the initial investment and then built up a portfolio. A second pillar of Deposit Solutions is the whitelabel interest rate portal business with other banks. Deutsche Bank, for example, has integrated the Hamburg offer into its services for private customers.
Through the “interest rate market” savers can seek higher interest daily or fixed deposits. Although banks risk customers investing money with other companies, they retain the important customer relationship and earn money with the brokerage.