Bunq relaunches its free savings account

European neobank bunq now has a new free savings account for users looking for a low-risk banking option.

The zero-fee, “high interest” account, Easy Savings, joins three existing paid accounts and replaces the free Easy Travel account, which was discontinued last May.

The three other accounts on offer, Easy Bank, Easy Green, and Easy Money, are all paid options, for both business and personal accounts.

As of today, all four banking options are offering 0.09 per cent interest rates.

In addition, all funds up to €100,000 are covered by the Deposit Guarantee Scheme of the Dutch Central Bank across all account types.

The challenger bank has had a variety of different free accounts on and off since launching in 2012, but there has not been one since the free travel account was stopped last year.

Now, as European inflation rates are at almost 6 per cent, the new account is aimed at people looking to get a return on their savings without the risk of investing.

“Our users may invest some of their money in stocks, but they fully understand the risks, which is why they still have significant savings,” Bunq CEO Ali Niknam said.

“By making it easy to get a higher return on these savings, they get the best of both worlds.”

The company boasts a “significantly higher interest rate than what they would get at a traditional bank” at 0.09 per cent, paid out monthly and with no minimum deposit.

Today JP Morgan’s Chase brand launched its first saver account in the UK, with a “market-leading” 1.5 per cent interest rate.

Other current interest rates on easy access saver accounts include Aldermore (0.95 per cent), Atom Bank (0.90 per cent), Cynergy Bank (0.9 per cent) and Shawbrook Bank (0.89 per cent).