French fintech eyes super app status with savings account partnership

Lydia, which started out as a peer-to-peer payments platform, teamed up with French fintech Cashbee to offer savings accounts, per TechCrunch. Users can open savings accounts through a mobile app and transfer money back and forth between bank accounts and their Cashbee accounts.

The savings accounts on Lydia’s platform are at a competitive disadvantage to Cashbee, but Lydia’s extensive financial services could offer a streamlined user experience. Lydia’s savings account comes with an interest rate of 0.6% and a 2% introductory rate for the first two months. But opening a savings account with Cashbee directly gives users the same introductory rate for three months. Users also have to deposit at least €1,000 ($1,140) with Lydia’s savings account offering, while Cashbee has a minimum of just €10 ($11.40), giving it a wider addressable market. That said, Lydia’s existing customers who open a savings account don’t have to download a separate app like Cashbee and can have all their financial services in one place.

The partnership is mutually beneficial—giving Cashbee access to a larger customer base and helping Lydia become a fintech super app.

• Lydia already has 5 million users who will now be exposed to Cashbee’s savings accounts. Cashbee only offers savings accounts on its proprietary platform, so this gives Cashbee a nice opportunity to diversify its customer acquisition channels.
• Lydia has been busy adding new services to its platform to cover all of its customers’ financial needs. It recently added a debit card, account aggregation, and donations to its payments platform. It also offers loans via fintech partnerships, and with Cashbee, it’s moving closer to becoming the primary hub for all financial needs, creating a stickier value proposition and additional revenue streams.