European Digital Bank Bunq Focuses On Savings Products With Interest Term Deposits

European digital bank bunq announced the launch of Term Deposits, a new savings option with some of the market’s highest returns, as well as ways to track and invest in crypto. With Term Deposits, bunq users can lock in their money for a fixed period and “benefit from higher interest rates.” However, these rates are not very competitive at all when compared to other banking / financial service providers in various jurisdictions globally that are now accessible to a broader range of investors and traders.

Users can now choose from four lock-up periods (far below global averages):

•  1.76% interest for 3-month deposits
• 1.86% interest for 6-month deposits
• 2.11% interest for 12-month deposits
• 1.91% interest for 24-month deposits

bunq has offered various rates, and the 12-month return of 2.11% now places bunq among the relatively high-yielding options (although far below international averages).

On a global scale, these rates reportedly rank within the “highest interest offerings among international FIs, solidifying bunq’s position as a destination for savers seeking returns.” But these claims are not entirely accurate as other service providers in jurisdictions across the globe are offering more competitive and better rates.

The announcement was made at the bunq Update 30 event in Amsterdam, during which the neobank also “launched an expansion of its Auto Round Up features.”

Every purchase can be set to “round up to the nearest euro, with the spare change now automatically invested in crypto. ”

To help users stay in control, bunq has also “introduced instant crypto alerts.”

Those with an active crypto wallet will “automatically be notified when coins in their favorites list rise or fall by more than 5 percent within 24 hours or hit a new all-time high.”

Additional alerts notify users when their “coins pass round-number milestones, offering timely insights on changes without the need to constantly check price charts.”

bunq, one of Europe’s largest neobanks, has “rebuilt banking from the ground up.”

As the world’s GenAI-powered bank, bunq’s AI now powers every “part of the business, from helping users with their finances, to being baked into bunq’s own operations.”

By developing a product rooted in its users’ needs, bunq says it makes life easy for “location-independent people and businesses, starting from the way they manage money: how they spend, save, budget and invest.”

As stated in a blog post, bunq was reportedly one of the first banks to get a European banking permit in “over 35 years,” raised the series A round of €193 million) and was also said to be one of the first EU neobank to “achieve structural profitability.”

As part of its mission to build the global neobank, in October of this year bunq also took its first step into the US as an “approved broker-dealer, with more expansion to follow.”