Deutsche Bank has spent £50 million for a five percent stake in Hamburg-based fintech Deposit Solutions, an existing technology supplier to the bank and rival to Belgium's Raisin.
Deutsche Bank already operates its “Zinsmarkt” deposit offering using technology supplied by Deposit Solutions.
Since 2017 Zinsmarkt has enabled Deutsche Bank customers to access fixed-term deposit products from other European banks that pay higher interest.
The bank says it plans to roll out the product to a wider customer base beyond existing retail and MaxBlue clients.
Tim Sievers, CEO and founder of Deposit Solutions, says: “The investment of Deutsche Bank is a milestone for us in two respects. Firstly, the expansion of our platform to include other Deutsche Bank businesses in Germany and abroad will help us grow even faster. Secondly, for the first time a client of ours becomes a shareholder of the infrastructure they use.”
Besides Deutsche Bank, nearly 100 other banks from 18 countries are using the Deposit Solutions platform either to offer their clients deposit products from third-party banks or to source deposits for their balance sheet. The company is further expanding internationally: In early 2019, Deposit Solutions launched in Switzerland as the first market outside the European Union; in the coming months the United States will follow.
At Deutsche Bank, around two billion euros of deposits have already been transmitted via Zinsmarkt. It currently offers more than 23 fixed-term deposit products with different maturities from three banks. Two additional banks are due to be added in the near future.
Karl von Rohr, president of Deutsche Bank, says: “In the digital age the only players who will maintain client contact are those who can offer the best products, even if they are provided by third party vendors. Deposit Solutions has the right infrastructure to enable this in the important business segment of fixed-income deposits.”