British app-only bank Atom is making a move into the German market through partnership with local startup Deposit Solutions.
The partnership lets Atom offer Germans fixed savings products, diversifying its deposit base to Europe's largest savings market without having to set up any additional retail infrastructure.
Hamburg-based Deposit Solutions is building a B2B-based open architecture platform for retail deposits across Europe, offering a platform over which European banks can list and sell their savings products.
Atom has been at forefront of the UK digital challenger bank revolution. It received its banking license in June 2015 and launched operations in April 2016, offering two fixed-saver accounts and secured business lending for SMEs.
But, despite raising £83 million earlier this year, the startup has been forced to put plans to offer current accounts on ice as it faces up to a slew of new regulations over the next year, making the move to Germany a welcome new source of business.
Mark Mullen, CEO, Atom, says: "Access to the German market has been carefully considered in order to give us an additional stream to increase deposits to aid our next stage of growth. We remain committed to building a low-cost business model and offering customers simple, transparent and innovative products and services to help them manage their finances with ease."