Willis Owen enters UK cash savings market with Raisin.co.uk
Willis Owen, one of the UK’s largest online investment platforms, is pleased to announce the launch of Smart Savings in partnership with the leading FinTech cash savings service Raisin UK. The collaboration will provide Willis Owen customers with access to FSCS protected cash savings powered by the Raisin UK marketplace.
Looking to diversify and strengthen its service offering, Willis Owen’s new partnership will help them to enter into the UK retail cash savings market, worth an estimated £700bn, offering their customers FSCS backed cash savings products for the first time.
Developed as a custom build API solution, that utilises the open banking platform, the first phase of the partnership will allow Willis Owen customers to compare and choose from a range of savings accounts offered by Raisin’s European partner banks – all managed from within the Willis Owen Smart Savings Account. This will allow customers to manage both their savings and investments portfolios with full control at their fingertips.
Discussing the partnership, Jason Chapman, Managing Director at Willis Owen said: “It has been a period of unprecedented upheaval and uncertainty for savers and investors as the world has responded to the major challenges posed by coronavirus. The UK’s base rate of interest has been cut to a record low of 0.1% and global stock markets have suffered following the worldwide economic shutdown. In such challenging times, it’s important that savers and investors find the best possible home for their money now and in the future. With that in mind, we are delighted to partner with Raisin UK to offer Smart Savings through Willis Owen.
“Savers should be able to get the best interest rates available to them and do so with little stress or paperwork. Through our partnership with Raisin UK, we can offer consistently competitive rates combined with a savings solution suitable for the digital age. Often, making the most of your cash savings is a gateway into investing which opens up the possibility of making your money work even harder in the future too if, and when, you are ready to do so. We hope Smart Savings will be the start for many novice investors to take the plunge. We are here to help people to build their financial resilience and start planning for a brighter financial future.”
Discussing the launch Kevin Mountford, Raisin UK co-founder, added: “To date, savers have had a real tough time in the market and with the current climate seemingly compounding this even further, any option to help them save smarter, harder and more conveniently will be a welcome reprise. The work was undertaken to bring this partnership to fruition is an extremely exciting development for the Raisin UK brand and we’re excited to see it develop further in the future.”
Raisin UK is the British arm of leading European deposit marketplace raisin.com. Raisin launched 2013 in Germany and has quickly grown to be one of Europe’s leading financial technology (FinTech) businesses.
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
For media enquiries, please contact:
David Wall, Raisin UK; david.wall@raisin.co.uk / 07951 284 564
Adrian Lowcock, Head of Personal Investing, Willis Owen: Adrian.lowcock@willisowen.co.uk / 07849846387
About Willis Owen
Willis Owen is one of the UK’s leading online investment service providers. Founded more than 20 years ago Willis Owen now has around £1bn of funds under management and has acted as an intermediary for over 150,000 customers and hundreds of millions of pounds worth of investments,
Willis Owen Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Raisin.co.uk key facts:
Raisin UK (raisin.co.uk) is the UK operation of Raisin GmbH (raisin.com). A trailblazer for open banking and the leading pan-European one-stop-shop for online savings and investments, Berlin-based fintech Raisin was founded in 2012.
Raisin GmbH is a Berlin-based fintech innovator that has quickly grown to become one of the largest financial technology companies in Europe. Since launch, Raisin has brokered 21 billion EUR for more than 240,000 customers in 31 European countries and 90 partner banks. Raisin was named to Europe’s top five fintech by the renowned FinTech50 awards and is backed by prestigious European and American investors such as PayPal, Goldman Sacs, Thrive Capital, Orange Digital Ventures, Index Ventures and Ribbit Capital.
Raisin UK co-founder, Kevin Mountford, who brings over 20 years of experience in the sector and a track record from companies such as MoneySupermarket.com and Halifax Bank of Scotland, is overseeing Raisin’s rapid growth within the UK.
Raisin UK’s partner banks and products can be found on the website’s savings marketplace https://www.raisin.co.uk/marketplace.
Today, Raisin UK has one aim: to provide UK savers with simple access and management of highly competitive savings accounts, guaranteed by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).