Raisin signs Open Banking deal with Santander

The Berlin-based start up has struck an agreement giving it access to the Spanish bank’s 14 million customers.

Santander and Raisin have signed an Open Banking deal, which allows the Spanish high street banking giant’s customers to share data with the fintech start up and use its services.

The deal allows Santander customers to share details such as names, dates of birth, ID, and contact details with the German savings marketplace at the touch of the bank’s online ‘Santander Connect’ button.

Berlin-based Raisin offers higher rate savings accounts through 62 partnerships with banks in 31 countries across Europe. It has 160,000 customers and has brokered €10bn on its platform since it was launched in 2013.     

Raisin said the agreement with a heavyweight like Santander was an “important” step in the growth of the young business. Santander is the euro zone’s biggest bank by market value, it has around 14 million active customers, and posted a 28 per cent jump in full-year profit to €7.81bn in 2018, boosted by growth in Mexico and Brazil.

Raisin chief executive Dr Tamaz Georgadz said: “Our cooperation with Santander in Spain represents not just a relationship of trust between one of the largest, multi-national banks in the world. It also shows how big banks and fintechs can combine expertise to provide greater benefits and increase value for customers.”

A change in European Union law at the start of the year has brought in Open Banking, which means consumers can allow businesses, other than their bank, to access their financial data.

Advocates say this potentially allows customers to get better deals, such as cheaper overdrafts, and to speed up the switching process.

Raisin, which launched in the UK last February, has a number of notable backers including, PayPal, Thrive Capital, Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital.