Raisin has launched its savings platform in Italy, enabling consumers to compare and manage savings products from multiple banks through a single interface. The fintech firm announced the expansion via LinkedIn, noting it provides deposit-taking banks access to a major new market. The platform initially offers fixed-term products from European partners, with overnight options planned for later. All deposits are protected by EU-harmonised guarantee schemes covering up to €100,000 per depositor, per bank. Italy marks Raisin's eleventh market, joining Germany, France, Austria, Spain, the UK, Netherlands, Ireland, Poland, the US and Finland. Marco Falà, Raisin Italy country head, said the expansion creates "a win-win-win for consumers, banks, and a connected European financial market.

Perenna gains approval to accept deposits, boosting funding capacity. Long-term fixed rate mortgage lender Perenna has been authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to accept retail deposits. The lender said this would support its funding strategy and help to expand its proposition, building on its 5-15-year fixed rate term products. Perenna said this would also help to diversify its funding alongside its existing £200m warehouse facility with ABN AMRO. The warehouse facility supports its long-term fixed rate lending. Perenna said there had already been "strong early uptake" for its 5-15-year products, which were launched at the end of last year. Perenna has partnered with savings and investment platform Raisin to launch its retail savings proposition. This will allow Perenna to offer fixed-term savings accounts with maturities from six months to five years, with 95-day notice accounts, to Raisin's customer base. Colin Bell, chief operating officer at Perenna, said: "Gaining authorisation for retail deposits is a significant moment for Perenna in its growth and value story, and will enable its continued innovation in the mortgage market. As its products become more diversified in response to market demand, so too must its funding sources. "Launching a savings proposition is the natural next step for Perenna, and securing regulatory approval to do so is a testament to the quality of the controls, processes and people we have in place within the business." He added: "We're committed to providing innovative products to the market and creating a nation of happy homeowners. Working with Raisin, we can fund access to a broader range of mortgage solutions for homeowners, giving borrowers greater financial certainty and helping them navigate the UK's affordability challenge, through funding from savers."

Kotapay, a division of First International Bank & Trust (FIBT), today announced Raisin, the global savings and investment platform, as the first financial technology company to integrate with its new bank-direct banking as a service (BaaS) platform, known as Kavinu. This integration expands on FIBT’s existing partnership with the German-based fintech leader, which already included serving as the holder of Raisin customers’ cash accounts. With the conversion of service bank responsibilities to FIBT, Raisin now accesses a variety of cloud-based microservices to processes fund transfers between external accounts and the 80+ banks and credit unions on the Raisin marketplace, as well as perform critical risk management and compliance functions.By removing unnecessary middleware and nonbank providers used by many to connect banks and fintechs, Kotapay’s vertical integration simplifies the BaaS model and accelerates speed-to-market for fintechs and embedded finance providers.“Kavinu represents the next generation of banking as a service where innovative companies like Raisin connect directly to an experienced banking partner like FIBT and Kotapay,” said Trent Sorbe, Chief Payments Officer at FIBT. “Raisin is an ideal first partner for demonstrating Kavinu’s capabilities and the advantages of our BaaS 2.0 approach. One contract and one connection greatly accelerated speed to market, as Raisin was able to launch in less than half the time experienced by other fintechs reliant on convoluted, unstable models.”Kotapay, which already provides payments processing to more than 107,000 employers and 1.5 million consumers nationwide, launched Kavinu to redefine BaaS by emphasizing direct relationships between fintech companies and banks. This approach ensures fintech solutions are built on a trusted foundation with faster time to market, proven scalability and increased revenue potential.Key advantages of the Kavinu platform include:Direct bank integration – Provides financial innovators with a direct connection to an experienced banking partner.Bank-grade security – Leverages FIBT’s robust compliance infrastructure, extensive risk management systems, and deep regulatory prowess.Accelerated speed to market – Enables faster implementation compared to other models, allowing partners to launch new products and services faster.Proven scalability – Supported by Kotapay’s existing payments infrastructure, which processed over 64 million transactions totaling more than $102 billion in 2024.Experienced leadership – Benefits from a team of industry leaders that propelled FIBT to one of only six community banks on the Nacha’s top-50 ACH originators list.Versatile architecture – Cloud-native, API-driven technology layer adaptable to various business models beyond typical BaaS use cases.“FIBT and Kotapay are among a small group of institutions that are both technology-forward leaders in electronic transaction processing and backed by the stability of a 115-year-old, family-owned bank,” said Cetin Duransoy, CEO at Raisin