Yolt signs partners and prepares for wider roll-out
ING Bank’s UK-based smart money app offshoot, Yolt, has been busy of late. It has forged a partnership to link its app with Raisin’s pan-European savings marketplace, and it is also embarking on an extended roll-out at ING, reports Martin Whybrow.
Additionally, Yolt is partnering with Payvision and Funding Options, both of which also have ties to ING.
Beginning in the UK, followed by Italy and France, Yolt will provide its users access to saving deposit rates from Raisin’s partner banks, directly through the Yolt app. Yolt users will be able to view their Raisin savings accounts in the app next to their credit and debit accounts and transactions.
Raisin partners include N26, Commerzbank, Vanguard and ClearScore, plus more than 75 partner banks offering deposits across Raisin’s seven platforms. Yolt collaborates with simplesurance, MoneySuperMarket, Anorak, Wealthify, Pensionbee and others.
Yolt was set up by ING in June 2017 and now claims 900,000 registered users. Raisin claims to have brokered over €13 billion since launching in 2013.
Raisin co-founder and CEO, Dr Tamaz Georgadze, says: “With our shared dedication to open banking, this cooperation will give Yolt users access to better savings along with transparency over their deposits, connecting both our companies’ core values.”
At its parent, Yolt’s Business API will be rolled out to a number of additional ING business units over the coming months. It currently provides aggregation services to selected ING markets.
Yolt has also announced support for Payvision, a Netherlands-based global acquirer and payment processing platform (in 2018, ING bought a 75% stake in Payvision), and Funding Options, a UK-based small business funding comparison platform (there is also an ING connection as Funding Options recently launched in the Netherlands, following investment by ING Ventures).
Yolt for Business API was launched in February this year and offers businesses a single API that enables account information and payment initiation services.
Benoît Legrand, ING CIO, says: “Announcing ING and Yolt’s open banking collaboration is a great example of ING’s innovation strategy coming to fruition, launching new initiatives which rapidly grow into leading companies in their area of expertise. After scaling rapidly and building open banking technology with the Yolt App, Yolt’s technology stack is now available for third parties to empower even more people and business across Europe. Collaboration is at the heart of our innovation strategy and Yolt’s success is a testament to our efforts over the last two years.”
