European Savers on Europe Day: Raisin Analyses European Savings Behaviour

What can Raisin customers tell us about Europeans and their savings habits?

• UK leads on gender parity
• Spain’s savers start younger
• Germany is most international

Raisin’s 175,000 customers live in 31 different European countries and represent 150 nationalities, a live reflection of the European idea of crossing borders and breaking down barriers to provide the “Schengen experience” for finance to savers and bankers alike. The Schuman Declaration with its European Coal and Steel Community from May 9, 1950, remains the cornerstone of today’s European Union and the annual celebration of Europe Day. To honour Europe Day, Raisin has taken a closer look at its own pan-European savers, particularly by age and gender, and how these savers are faring across the continent. We zoomed in on three markets in particular where we noticed striking alignments or differences from our Europe-wide mean, Spain, Germany and the UK.

Germany drives national diversity but lags behind on gender balance
Raisin’s largest market, Germany, is also the most diverse with 30 to 50-year-old customers of the fintech’s German platform www.WeltSparen.de coming from an astonishing 115 different countries of origin. This diversity decreases, the older the customer segment, with the over 70-year-olds using WeltSparen nonetheless representing 55 nations. But one thing stays the same for Germany-based savers regardless of age: two out of three WeltSparen customers are men. Given that Germany continues to struggle with the third-highest pay gap in Europe between men and women according to the European Commission’s October 2018 report, this tendency is perhaps unsurprising. The youngest customers — the under 30-year-old segment — may be leading the way to change, however: there one sees a 60 – 40% divide between men and women.

Meanwhile the 50- to 70-year-old group of Raisin customers in Germany earns the greatest bulk of the profits with 55.8% of the total interest WeltSparen has paid out, suggesting that the marketplace is already having an impact in financially preparing the next generation of retirees and combating poverty among the elderly.

Spain sees younger than average customers winning most of the profits
Compared to Raisin’s pan-European average, the platform’s Spanish customers are out ahead on actively seeking competitive interest rates earlier in their careers as savers: 30- to 50-year-olds in Spain, who save through the www.Raisin.es platform not only represent the largest customer segment but also take home the lion’s share of the profits, with almost 50% of the total interest earned through Raisin deposits in Spain. In contrast, across all seven Raisin platforms, the savings marketplace’s customers tend to save more later, with on average 56.5% of the earned interest going to 50 to 70 year olds. So Spain’s younger savers suggest an interesting trend.

On the other hand, gender parity among Spanish customers increases with age, with women as only 22% of under-30 savers but 43% of over-70’s. While these savers are claiming an overall smaller share of the profits, Spanish women using Raisin are steadily approaching an equal portion per population, by retirement age. In contrast to gender diversity however, the older the customer segment, the fewer nationalities they represent: Raisin Spain’s 30 to 50-year-old savers come from 58 different countries, 50 to 70-year-olds from 35 countries, and over 70’s from just 11 nations.

Younger UK savers more international but women gain in older customer segment
The UK shows a different picture, with customers on average representing a narrower age range (meaning a lot fewer savers under 30 and over 70), possibly reflecting in part the UK’s lower life expectancy: men in the UK live on average 79.2 years and women 82.9 years, according to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, whereas Spain has one of the highest life expectancies in the world, with the most recent WHO statistics indicating that Spanish women live on average 85.7 years and men 80.3 years. Germany’s life expectancy data counters that idea, however, with German men at 78.7 on average and German women 83.3, and yet a higher proportion of older savers than in the UK*. Raisin UK customers in the 50 to 70-year-old segment, the largest group of UK savers, come from 33 different countries and 46% — nearly half — are women. Similarly to Spanish customers, the younger the UK saver, the more likely they are to represent national diversity. The UK’s 30 to 50-year-olds come from 50 different nations while the over 70 crowd from just 22 countries.

This analysis reflects the ways that saving behaviour varies from country to country through Europe and is influenced by individual demographic factors. It also demonstrates the openness of European savers for saving marketplaces with better interest rates. Without the single European market, Raisin’s customers would not have earned the over EUR 90 million in interest from cross-border savings that the Berlin-based fintech’s platforms have generated since launching in late 2013.

*The Europe-wide average is 75 years for men and 82 for women

Sources:

Primary source: Raisin
Additional sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/274514/life-expectancy-in-europe/
https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/gender-equality/equal-pay/gender-pay-gap-situation-eu_en
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/bulletins/nationallifetablesunitedkingdom/2015to2017

Headline image: Tom Grimbert (@tomgrimbert) on Unsplash