Zopa debuts hybrid savings account
Zopa Bank has launched a new hybrid savings account for younger users, which allows funds to be held in multiple savings pots at the same time.
The mobile-only Smart Saver account will pay up to 1.05 per cent AER to customers who choose to lock their money in a 95-day notice account. Returns of 0.72 per cent are being offered for instant access account holders. Savers can earn 0.75 per cent AER by giving notice of seven days to Zopa, and returns of 0.85 per cent are offered on accounts with a 31-day notice period.
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Zopa savers can choose to spread their money across all notice and instant-access accounts, in order to maximise their returns, depending on their needs.
“The Zopa Smart Saver combines the best of both banking and fintech when it comes to helping customers save money,” said Merve Ferrero, chief strategy officer at Zopa.
“By building on the foundations of the easy access account but evolving it, Zopa offers a higher interest rate in a sustainable manner. At the same time, it gives users control over how and when they access their money based on their goals.
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“And we’re only getting started. Over the next 12 months we plan on doubling our savings portfolio to £2bn while continuing to find innovative ways to help our customers grow their savings”.
Zopa created the hybrid savings account in response to research which found that £225bn is sitting idle in current accounts which pay minimal rates of interest.
The bank said that the Smart Saver account is aimed at “offering younger customers at the beginning of their saving journeys great value without compromising ease of access.”
This is Zopa’s second savings product. Earlier this year, the bank revealed that more than £1bn had been deposited in its fixed term savings account since the former peer-to-peer lending platform launched its bank 18 months earlier.
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