Raisin arrived in Italy and joined the FD community

Raisin, pan-European marketplace for wealth management, arrives in Italy and signs its first alliance with Banca Sella. This partnership will allow the bank’s clients to access new deposit account solutions offered by other Italian and European banks. We interviewed Federico Roesler Franz, Country Manager Italy, to learn more about the strategy and objectives of this fintech.

What does Raisin do and who is the target?

Raisin is a fintech and the leading European cross-border marketplace for wealth management. We connect banks across the continent with consumers looking for competitive deposit offers for their savings and, in effect, harmonize the European deposits space. We’re excited to have just entered the Italian savings market through a partnership with Banca Sella. The bank has integrated Raisin’s marketplace, offering its customers a range of deposit products from Raisin partner banks within its own ecosystem.

So, in brief, Raisin addresses these groups:

  • B2C – retail clients: Save & invest profitably and conveniently
  • B2C – business clients: Save & invest corporate accounts
  • B2B – partner banks (currently 14 from Italy): Offer deposit products on our platforms
  • B2B – distribution partners (e.g. Banca Sella): Integrate our products on their platforms to more efficiently and cost-effectively expand their product and service range for their customers

How Raisin has grown in the last months and in what phase you are?

Some of Raisin’s recent achievements:

  • In addition to Italy with Banca Sella, nine platforms across Europe (Germany, UK, Spain, France, Austria, Netherlands, Ireland and the Europe-wide Raisin.com)
  • U.S. market entry with a B2B SaaS offering
  • 100m EUR Series D with existing investors in early 2019, followed by 25m EUR investment from Goldman Sachs in July 2019
  • Four major acquisitions integrated in the company and rebranded: UK fintech PBF Solutions (now Raisin UK), MHB Bank (now Raisin Bank), German pensions specialist fairr (now Raisin Pensions), and the U.S.-Spanish financial software company that is now Raisin Technology.
  • 28bn EUR assets brokered and 650m AuM in ETFs and pensions
  • Trustpilot score 4.5, NPS 73
  • Co-founded – together with 20+ leading European fintechs – the new European Fintech Association based in Brussel to advocate for the single market for financial services and other topics

Have you done and/or are you interested in doing open innovation projects? With what kind of subjects?

In terms of open banking, Raisin has innovated by building the only pan-European digital marketplace for deposits, partnering with banks (including more than 10 Italian banks) on open banking infrastructure and simplifying cross-border digital banking for banks and consumers. Prior to Raisin, no such cross-border solution existed in Europe much less available in every European market. The Raisin deposits marketplace serves consumers, in giving them access to more competitive deposit products, and serves banks looking to diversify their funding sources.

But we also realized that by integrating this online marketplace, all kinds of financial institutions (as in the case of Banca Sella) could extend their product range for their customers, to include deposit offers from external parties. In some cases it also helps banks siphon off excess cash and reduce the pain of negative interest. With white label integrations Raisin is often invisible, and that’s the point – it’s about the solution we can provide B2B as well as B2C, not the name attached to it. I think it’s a good representation of the innovation mindset of fintech.

How can the Fintech District help you in this respect?

The Fintech District community offers a great chance for us at Raisin to engage with and learn from a wide range of banks, fintechs, and other financial institutions. We are also excited to share our experiences entering the Italian savings market and our insights as a fast-growing pan-European fintech, and we welcome the chance to connect.

How is your team composed and what kind of figures are you looking for on the Italian market?

Raisin employs around 350 people in Berlin, including a dedicated customer service team operating in multiple languages; another 30 in Manchester for the UK operation; ca. 35 team members in Frankfurt (Germany) at Raisin Bank; and a Raisin U.S. team of 13 based in New York and Madrid.