How Save Could Earn You Up to 7% In Interest On Savings

Save, a fintech geared towards yield enhancement on savings, on Tuesday formally signed an agreement with Radius Bank, to power an FDIC-insured consumer checking account and the Save Debit Invest debit card for Savetech platform customers.

As part of the development, Benzinga chatted with Save CEO and founder Michael Nelskyla, as well as President and COO Adam Watts.

About Save

To buoy the expansion and pandemic recovery, central bankers employed unprecedented stimulus, pushing savers into higher yielding risk assets, such as the stock market.

Founded in 2018, Save is a fintech specializing in taking plain banking products, such as savings and checking accounts, and converting them into investment vehicles. The company’s FDIC-insured yield enhancement products help savers hurt by the low rate environment gain riskless exposure to the market.

In the simplest way possible: Save unlocks access to higher returns on savings.

Benzinga will be holding its annual Benzinga Global Fintech Awards, a day of dealmaking, networking, and recognition in the financial technology space, on Nov. 10, 2020.

Product Portfolio

Save comes as a multifaceted solution for retail banking customers to save and invest their interest in the market, receiving the security of insured bank deposits and earnings of a diversified investment portfolio.

“We have our market savings account; we take the deposit, place it with a partner bank, and then we’ll take the interest on that account, and invest only the interest in the markets,” the CEO noted.

“We are currently achieving around 3% historically, and that means that the interest rates that we employ reflect the top quartile of interest rates being paid by banks today.”

Recent Events

In light of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, investors shifted their focus to risk-off assets.

As a result, consumers increased their interest in savings solutions. Save took note and partnered with Radius Bank, an institution that can facilitate and scale alternative banking concepts.

Save’s partnership initiatives means that customers can now open a checking account with Radius Bank and use their Save Debit Invest card to convert their spending into an investment vehicle.

“For every $1 the customer spends, we will invest $1 in equivalent portfolio investments,” Nelskyla noted.

“This means that if you were to spend $8,000 in a year, we would invest $8,000 for you, and then you keep all the returns.”

Innovation Outlook

Save is filling a gap, allowing investors to gain exposure in risk-assets with no capital at risk.

According to Watts, the response has been excellent and the firm has secured approximately $100 million in customer commitments: “When someone sees our debit card landing page, 25% of the time they sign up. That means we’ve struck a chord with the U.S. consumer.”

Going forward, Save aims to scale out its technology and offering, using special referral programs to boost initial growth.

“For every new customer referred, we will give them $1,000 in additional portfolio equivalent investments, adding to the returns of the customer,” Nelskyla said.

“Spending an average amount of $8,000 or $10,000 per year, coupled with the referral program and $5,000 in savings, you get around 6% or 7% annual return historically on FDIC insured capital.”

To learn more about Save, click here.