Mobilising deposits through innovation

Banks continue to grapple with a new paradigm in deposit mobilisation, as digital banks and investment apps broaden their offerings. The Revoluts and Robinhoods of the world are continually offering new ways to funnel money into their vaults, by introducing new digital offers that they see being successful in other countries. Travelling to some countries, you'll sometimes see people swapping out their SIM cards to a local network to avoid expensive roaming charges. Banks have long sensed an opportunity with data services: in South Africa, Capitec and Rain were early movers on this, offering customers mobile data plans in-app. Now Revolut is taking up the idea, launching mobile services for customers in Germany and the UK, where a handful of networks tend to dominate. "Revolut has announced plans to launch mobile phone plans for the first time in a move it hopes will disrupt the established market and provide more choice to customers," reports the Independent. "The fintech company, best known for its banking app, already offers an eSIM which allows for overseas roaming on paid plans within the phone app. But now they are set to release a full standalone mobile phone plan, which includes unlimited domestic calls and data plus 20GB roaming data within the EU and US." Revolut's higher-priced plans include subscriptions including the FT: don't be surprised to see subscriptions to Netflix next.