Neobanks or digital banks without branches are taking advantage of interest rate hikes to reward savings and take away customers from traditional institutions, which continue to resist paying significant fees for deposits. In just one year they have captured nearly two million users and already have around ten million, thanks to a successful commercial strategy, but at the cost of lower margins.
According to the data provided by the same entities, Revolut is the neobank that is growing the most, since it has doubled its base and reached two million customers, but the leader remains Imagin, a subsidiary of CaixaBank, which has 4.4 million later to add 400,000. OpenBank, owned by Santander, has around 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 a year, and MyInvestor, linked to Andbank, from 140,000 to 200,000.
"Traditional banking is asleep and is not translating rate hikes into offers for consumers," says Silvia Escámez, vice president of AEFI, the Spanish fintech and insurtech association, to describe the phenomenon. "New banks take the opportunity to raise their share thanks to greater agility and the ability to customize offers," he adds.
The neobanks, apart from their owner, have their own balance sheet and, above all, a more recent one, which now plays in their favor. "In many cases, their balance sheet ends up being born", 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 is the case with traditional banks. It is added that "they do not have an expensive branch structure, which, moreover, becomes more expensive with inflation", adds this entity.
To comparators of deposits, they offer returns above 3%, above the 2.34% average recorded by the big banks, according to the Bank of Spain. They do this with names that appeal directly to the young audience, such as Monzo or Rebellion Pay.
The consulting firm Inmark places a new bank, Revolut, as the second entity that has attracted the most new customers in Spain in the last year. It took 12.8%, just behind BBVA's 14%. Openbank is also in the top positions, with 4.4%; Imagin, with 3.5%, and N26, with 3%. One in four bank changes already have 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 from it. The traditional bank is not responding and we are faster", according to sources from Revolut, which started by offering a travel card and already has a bank account in Spain. Imagin emphasizes that the organization 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 mostly held in current accounts. Term deposits barely represent 10% and the rate at which they subscribe is around 6,000 million euros per month, slower than in other countries in the euro zone.
Inmark's Director of Multi-Client Market Studies, Ana Delia Revilla, explains that neobanks continue to be "secondary options for clients, especially those who want to have a second account without commissions". The Spanish, they say, are no longer so loyal to their bank and are diversifying their financial relationships. 49% already work with more than one bank, compared to 35% before the pandemic.
Users who make 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.
