Italian bank Banca Sella and pan-European deposits marketplace Raisin are cooperating to give the bank’s customers access for the first time to third-party savings products.
Through the integration of Raisin’s marketplace, Banca Sella customers will be able to invest from their Banca Sella accounts in select deposits at other Italian banks and banks across Europe. The partnership makes Banca Sella the first bank in Italy to offer its customers external deposit products.
Traditional bank takes lead on open banking innovation
Founded in 1886 and one of Italy’s largest privately-owned, independent banks, Banca Sella was the first to launch an open banking platform in Italy. The bank is thus positioned to lead on partnering with fintechs such as Raisin. The entirely digital offer, integrated into Banca Sella’s online banking platform, has been launched first as a pilot program, with the offer to be extended in the coming months to all the bank’s retail customers.
Raisin enters Italian savings market via partnership with Banca Sella
The integration with Banca Sella represents Raisin’s entry into the Italian savings market with a localised platform, the fintech’s eighth country launch. Based in Berlin, Raisin has built a marketplace of savings products available to depositors across Europe, featuring deposits from banks in 25 countries. The fintech focuses on competitive interest rates as well as providing consumers access across borders, choice, transparency, and the convenience of a fully digital process.
“Raisin’s integration with Banca Sella is an important step for us into the Italian savings market, bringing to customers in Italy the convenience and choice of a marketplace,” explains Federico Roesler Franz, Country Manager Italy at Raisin. “Banca Sella’s forward-looking approach to technology and digital banking has provided Raisin with an excellent entry point into one of Europe’s largest economies.”
“Banca Sella immediately understood the importance of seizing the opportunities that open banking offers,” says Luca Ferrarese, Head of Retail Business of Banca Sella. “This is how we make innovative and cutting-edge solutions available to our customers, in line with their needs, and it has put the bank on a continuous path of digital transformation. Partnering with Raisin, one of the most established fintech companies in Europe, represents a further element of this strategy that sees banks and fintechs working together to offer completely new, effective and efficient solutions.”
Raisin co-founder and CEO Dr. Tamaz Georgadze adds: “We’re very happy to fulfil our mission of reaching Italian depositors through a partnership with one of Italy’s oldest, most established banks. It’s also a great illustration that the potential for innovation depends not on how new a financial institution is but on its vision. Our partnership with Banca Sella enables Raisin to take an important step toward our vision, as Raisin products are now available on a localized platform to savers in all of Europe’s largest economies.”