Neobanks or digital banks without branches are taking advantage of interest rate increases to reward savings and snatch customers from traditional entities, which continue to resist significantly remunerating deposits. In just one year they have attracted close to two million users and now have around ten million, thanks to a successful commercial strategy, but at the cost of lower margins.
According to the data provided by the entities themselves, Revolut is the neobank that is growing the most, doubling its base and reaching two million clients, but the leader continues to be Imagin, a subsidiary of CaixaBank, which has 4.4 million after adding 400,000. OpenBank, owned by Santander, has about two million users, also 400,000 more than a year ago, while the German N26 reaches one million after adding 150,000. Evo Banco, from Bankinter, has gone from 710,000 to 755,000 in one year and MyInvestor, linked to Andbank, from 140,000 to 200,000.
“Traditional banking is asleep and is not translating rate increases into offers for consumers,” says Silvia Escámez, vice president of AEFI, the Spanish fintech and insurtech association, to describe the phenomenon. “Neobanks take the opportunity to increase quota thanks to their greater agility and ability to personalize offers,” she adds.
Neobanks, regardless of their owner, have their own and, above all, more recent balance sheets, which now works in their favor. “Their balance sheet has just been born in many cases,” they explain from MyInvestor. They give more for deposits because they have not had to remunerate them in the years when rates were negative, as happens to traditional banks. Added to this is that “they do not have an expensive branch structure, which also becomes more expensive with inflation,” adds this entity.
In deposit comparators, they offer returns of over 3%, above the 2.34% average that, according to the Bank of Spain, large banks record. They do so with names that directly appeal to young audiences, such as Monzo or Rebellion Pay.
The consulting firm Inmark places a neobank, Revolut, as the second entity that has attracted the most new clients in Spain in the last year. It has taken 12.8%, only behind BBVA's 14%. Also in the top positions are Openbank, with 4.4%, Imagin, with 3.5%, and N26, with 3%. One in four bank changes already has to do with neobanks. Imagin has a share among neobanks of 32%, according to the firm Smartme Analytics.
“In a context of rising interest rates, our users can benefit. Traditional banking is not responding and we are faster,” indicate sources from Revolut, which began offering a travel card and already has a bank account in Spain. From Imagin they highlight that the entity has not stopped growing at double digits since its creation in 2016.
What is at stake is a savings base of individuals and companies valued at 1.3 trillion euros and largely held in current accounts. Time deposits barely represent 10% and the rate at which they are subscribed is around 6,000 million euros per month, slower than in other countries in the euro zone.
The director of Multi-client Market Research at Inmark, Ana Delia Revilla, explains that neobanks continue to be “secondary options for clients, especially for those who want to have a second account without commissions.” The Spanish, she says, “are no longer so loyal to their bank and are diversifying their financial relationships.” 49% already have more than one bank, compared to 35% before the pandemic.
Users who carry out banking transactions with different entities have gone from representing 35.1% before the pandemic to the current 49.4%, says the firm. In 2020, each Spaniard had relationships with an average of 1.44 banks, a figure that increased to 1.55 in 2021, 1.67 in 2022 and 1.73 in 2023.
