By Ryan Weeks on Friday 3 August 2018
Savings marketplace Raisin has hooked up to Starling using its API.
Starling boss Anne Boden (pictured) has previously told AltFi that to justify the expense and regulatory burden of having a banking licence, ‘you have to do a lot of banking’. That includes selling banking services to other fintechs.
Today, Starling has struck its first banking-as-a-service partnership with deposit marketplace Raisin UK, the British arm of a German fintech that plugs users into a wide range of savings products across Europe.
Launched in 2013, Raisin has processed over €7 billion of savings deposits to date, boasting more than 130,000 customers across Europe.
Starling’s banking-as-service suite allows third parties to offer customised services such as retail banking payments and card issuing – without being a regulated entity (since they’re piggy-backing off Starling’s permissions).
Through the new partnership, Raisin UK will be able to use Starling’s API to open Starling accounts for its customers, collecting deposits and distributing them via its many savings product partners. Previously, the firm could only collect deposits in the name of its partner banks, meaning customers did not have individual accounts with Raisin.
In time, it is suggested that Starling customers will also be able to access Raisin UK’s deposit marketplace via the Starling marketplace.
“Our partnership with Raisin UK is a compelling example of the new Open Banking reforms in action. and will allow it to build out its business in the UK. By opening its APIs to Raisin UK, Starling is part of a new movement where different businesses can tailor their propositions to each customer base and put their customers at the centre of a wider financial ecosystem. This is the next significant step in Starling’s banking as a service offering,” said Anne Boden, chief executive of Starling Bank, in a statement.
