A new company enters the business of time deposits in Germany

The digital asset manager Liqid enters the business of overnight and time deposits. This was confirmed by managing director Christian Schneider-Sickert on Sunday evening, May 17th,  after it was discovered a corresponding new offer (“Liqid Cash”) on the website of the Berlin-based fintech company over the weekend.

The overnight and fixed-term deposit offer is not yet live, but interested parties can already register on a waiting list. According to Schneider-Sickert, the full launch is to take place in the next few days. Then it will also become clear with which banks the asset management fintech company, founded in 2015, will cooperate.

If you want to find more details about the business of overnight and time deposits and how Liqid is planning its launch, download the Born2Invest mobile app. Read the most important business headlines and stay on top of the market.

Liqid is following the same path as Scalable Capital

Liqid is following the same path as the Munich-based robo market leader Scalable Capital, which also offers an overnight and fixed-term deposit solution on its website in addition to its traditional investment product.

The industrial logic behind it: By expanding their product range, the Robos firstly want to earn more from the individual customer – and secondly, to bind him more closely to the company. The consequence of this development: the boundaries between “Robo Advisory” and “Deposit Brokerage” – originally two strictly separate Fintech segments – are becoming increasingly blurred.

The Berlin-based deposit broker Raisin (“Weltsparen”), for example, has long been offering a Robo-like ETF investment product under the name “Weltinvest”. In addition, Raisin’s rival Deposit Solutions has integrated the robotic product of Berlin-based digital asset manager Quirion on its end-customer platform “Savedo”.

Interestingly, “Liqid Cash” (just like Scalable’s deposit product) is based on a white label solution from Raisin – and not on the Deposit Solutions platform. At first glance, this comes as a bit of a surprise: Actually, Deposit is more of a B2B specialist, while Raisin is known primarily for its B2C product “Weltsparen”. If you ask around in the market what distinguishes the two white label offers from each other, then you will usually hear: Deposit’s B2B platform is technically a bit more sophisticated – but Raisin has a wider range of partner banks to choose from.

Whether this argumentation also played a role in Liqid’s choice of partner is unclear. What is striking, however, is that on the website mentioned at the beginning, the Berlin-based fintech company is aggressively advertising that deposits up to $549,000 (€500,000) are “legally protected.”

Of course, this promise can only become a reality if the customer’s money is split between at least five banks. After all, the statutory deposit protection is limited to $110,000 (€100,000) per bank and customer. In other words, Liqid must have at least five partner banks at the official go-live. This will be the case, as Schneider-Sickert confirmed. In fact, the company will have seven partner banks at the launch.

Liqid will not simply copy Raisin’s or Weltsparen’s offer one to one

“We will carry out our own examination of the partner banks and apply strict criteria,” said Schneidet-Sickert. This “curating” approach is reminiscent of Deutsche Bank. Its deposit platform “Zinsmarkt” is also based on a white-label approach in terms of technology. Although, in this case, Deposit Solutions and not Raisin is the B2B provider.

However, Deutsche Bank also selects its partner banks independently. The problem here, however, is that although the “interest market” has been live since 2017, there are still only three partner banks on the platform.

Liqid had recently put the “accumulated fixed assets ” in its digital asset management at “well over $549 million (€500 million).” Together with “Cominvest” (behind which is Comdirect), the Berliners could thus rank second among the local providers, well behind the market leader Scalable.

__

(Featured image by Tumisu via Pixabay)

DISCLAIMER: This article was written by a third party contributor and does not reflect the opinion of Born2Invest, its management, staff or its associates. Please review our disclaimer for more information.

This article may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “estimate,” “become,” “plan,” “will,” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks as well as uncertainties, including those discussed in the following cautionary statements and elsewhere in this article and on this site. Although the Company may believe that its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, the actual results that the Company may achieve may differ materially from any forward-looking statements, which reflect the opinions of the management of the Company only as of the date hereof. Additionally, please make sure to read these important disclosures.

First published in finanz-szene.de, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

Although we made reasonable efforts to provide accurate translations, some parts may be incorrect. Born2Invest assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions or ambiguities in the translations provided on this website. Any person or entity relying on translated content does so at their own risk. Born2Invest is not responsible for losses caused by such reliance on the accuracy or reliability of translated information. If you wish to report an error or inaccuracy in the translation, we encourage you to contact us.