Marking five years since its inception, the German FinTech Trade Republic has grown to become Europe’s largest broker and a leading savings platform. Boasting a customer base of 4 million across 17 countries, the company now manages assets totaling around €35 billion. The fintech concluded its 2023 financial year with a net profit while concurrently offering its customers the European Central Bank’s (ECB) interest rate of 4% per annum.
In celebration of its fifth anniversary, Trade Republic is introducing a novel Visa card, ingeniously blending spending and saving. This card offers customers a unique ‘Saveback’ feature, allowing them to earn a 1% reward back into their savings plan for every card payment. Additionally, the card facilitates the automatic investment of spare change from rounded-up payments into any asset.
The fintech was founded in 2015 under the name Neon Trading by Christian Hecker, Thomas Pischke, and Marco Cancellieri.
Having recently acquired a full banking license from the ECB, Trade Republic has transitioned from a mere neobroker to a comprehensive digital direct bank. This shift, partly motivated by the EU’s ban on the “Payment For Order Flow” (PFOF) business model, has led the Berlin-based company to explore and develop new business models. The company has been adeptly capitalizing on the resurgent interest in traditional savings rates amidst the changing economic landscape.
The fact that Trade Republic users collectively hold €35 billion (much of which is likely in securities rather than cash) is significant. By comparison, N26 reported about €8 billion in customer deposits at the end of 2023. Trade Republic‘s full-fledged banking services are a clear move to compete in the new banking space, a development certainly not lost on its peers like N26, which is set to launch its own trading product for ETFs and shares in early 2024 in partnership with Upvest.
