The German app-based bank and broker, Trade Republic, announced this week that it will start to offer its customers Belgian bank account numbers and a competitive savings rate.
As part of the platform's wider strategy to compete with established commercial banks in Belgium, Trade Republic, which claims to have 100,000 customers in Belgium, opened an office in Brussels to enable it to offer Belgian account numbers.
Alongside the move, Trade Republic announced that new current account customers will also receive 3% of interest on their balances of up to €50,000, with interest calculated daily and paid monthly.
Existing customers (and those with balances over €50,000) will earn the European Central Bank rate of 2.5% gross.
Account holders will also benefit from "Saveback", which returns 1% of card spending back to a savings account.
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"€90 billion is sitting idle in Belgian current accounts, generating no interest whatsoever, while inflation continues to rise. With an interest-bearing current account, we are finally putting that money to work," said Vincent Grard, Trade Republic’s country manager for Belgium.
Trade Republic is best known as an investment platform that lets users trade for a fixed fee rather than a percentage.
Both interest and investment income are likely to fall within Belgium's capital gains tax regime. Savers will need to pay a 30% withholding tax, which brings the 3% interest down to a net return of 2.1%.
As interest rates on government bonds across Europe rise, savers have seen yields move in their favour.
Belgium's recent state bond offered net yields of 1.9% for a one-year bond, and 2.5% for a ten-year issue. The September release raised €1.255 billion.
