Are your bank’s savings accounts returning close to zero returns? Are you concerned about your money sitting idle at the bank while other people put their money to better use? Let me then introduce you to Iban wallet, a new kind of online investment platform where you can earn between a projected 2.5% and 6% yearly on the money deposited.
❔ What is Iban Wallet?
Iban Wallet is a European fintech company that provides an online investment platform that allows users to invest in several products with different interest rates and terms by offering a hassle-free, passive management experience. Iban’s projected returns range from 2.5% to 6%.
Iban is a global online marketplace for investment. They provide investors with a transparent way to get a return on their funds. Their mission is to facilitate the free and efficient movement of capital. With Iban, investors can invest in different types of asset-backed investment products with different terms and returns.
Iban acts as an intermediary to the lending process, providing the tools and security for all involved. Borrowers can easily apply for a loan, supported by their credit information and collateral. Loan originators working with Iban will select only the best applicants and present these loans to Iban. Instead of allowing you to invest in a specific loan, they do the hard work for you and aggregate many loans together – you have access to a much simpler approach: an iban account.
👥 How do users become investors with Iban wallet?
This platform boasts a sleek design and seamless experience across all devices (web, android, and iOS). Iban wallet has country-specific websites with an experience tailored to the user’s nationality and account currency. Customer support is offered in more than 3 languages and they are aiming to expand to even more.
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Creating an account in less than 5 minutes:
Requirements: to be at least 18 years old and be a resident in one of the countries in which Iban offers its services. -
Adding funds to your account:
The minimum investment amount is as little as 1€/$ !
To fund the account the investor can either use debit/credit card (only needs to insert card details) or choose a SEPA transfer.
Iban currently offers accounts in EUR, USD, and MXN. - Platform experience:
The investor can select one of the four products available. These accounts have different expected projected interest rates (up to 6% AER), minimum investment amounts and terms.
As is customary with online investment platforms, movements from and to an Iban Account can only occur if the Iban Account and the bank account share the same holder name.
This means, for example, that the user cannot receive or transfer from another person directly in an Iban Account. They would have to receive that amount to their own bank account, and then invest it themselves with Iban Wallet.
How is Iban Wallet Different Than Others?
On the surface, the model seems quite similar to P2P lending.
Lenders provide funds, the platform intermediates the process, transferring the funds to loan originators that underwrite loans and issue them to borrowers.
Did you spot the difference already? It’s easy to miss.
Let’s say this again: loan originators underwrite loans and issue them to borrowers.
When you or anyone invests through Iban Wallet, the loans have already been issued. The loan originators are already contractually bound to the loans, they are not waiting for enough capital to be raised to fund a specific project.
Moreover, each investment is diversified and associated with several aggregated loans.
While this may result on a lower interest rate than one might find on P2P platforms, it also enables Iban Wallet to offer a higher degree of liquidity to investors, as they are able to request a withdrawal of their funds at any time (keep in mind that an early cancelation fee may apply if funds are withdrawn before their term on some products).
And that explains where the loan originators’ motivation lies: they typically charge higher interest rates to borrowers than the ones available through Iban Wallet. It’s in this differential of interest rates that marketing and operational costs are covered, as well as their profit margin.
💶 What are the fees?
There are no fees for you as a user, including transfers and withdrawals. This is great news, as we are seeing lots of banks nowadays trying to fleece their clients with monthly fees, set up fees and penalties for closing their account. You’ll get none of that crap with Iban wallet.
🤺 How is the user protected?
Iban wallet protects users’ funds via 3 methods:
- Your funds are deposited in an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) regulated by the European Central Bank.
- All investments are backed by collateral (asset/property).
Let’s get deeper:
We can start with the concept of diversification – Iban wallet works with an extensive pool of
loan originators from various geographies, who offer multiple types of loans, return rates and
deposit terms. Iban also checks, through an extensive due diligence process that every loan originator follow strict risk standards.
On top of that, when you invest with Iban, all of the funds are automatically deposited in an EMI (Electronic Money Institution) which complies with the corresponding European Regulations.
Another way to mitigate risk is by reinforcing and building new investor protections. All of the loans Iban invests in are asset-backed. What does this mean? It means that Iban only invests in loans that have collateral – if the borrower were to fail the repayment of the loan they hold, the loan originator would redeem the property (collateral) in order to settle the debt.
Iban Wallet facilitates access to a marketplace that allows you to contract credit rights holders from previously granted loans. The Investor users can invest, that is, acquire or buy such credit rights with the right to subrogate themselves in the creditor position of the granted loan, acquiring the right to receive the principal and the interests agreed in such granted loan, subject to the conditions that the User has agreed with the credit grantor, either directly or through the computer applications that systematize and make efficient such purchase process. These applications take into account the experience of the credit acquirer as well as the degree of risk he wants to assume, and allow him to execute the purchase of the credit or credit installments in the desired terms.
Let’s talk about risk management
Having taken a general look at the basic user protection practices in place, let’s dig deeper into risk and see how this platform handles risk.
The first action happens on the loan originator level. Although each loan originator has its own set of subscription and credit scoring policies, they are supervised by Iban Wallet so as to ensure that they partner only with entities observing consistent credit scoring models. Iban’s monitoring of loan originators’ metrics is ongoing, and not just carried out at the beginning of the business relationship.
Next, we move on to the structure of the products themselves. As you may have noticed by firsthand experience, with Iban Wallet users don’t select any specific loan on which to invest. This is not only because this is handled automatically, but also because all investments are tied to the performance of an aggregated bundle of loans. By doing this, it is possible to get further diversification to account for any eventual default.
And speaking of defaults, we arrive at our third measure: all loans in which users invest through Iban Wallet are asset-backed. Meaning that there is always collateral involved; physical property that can be sold to cover that default.
🗄️ What types of accounts are offered?
Iban accounts are investment products providing interest projected to be accrued on a daily basis. By opening an Iban account you can invest with a projected interest rate starting with 2.5% AER.
As mentioned earlier, you can start investing by just putting €1, so you can feel free to test out these accounts with small amounts. Interest is aimed to be accrued every day and there is no minimum term for the Iban account, so nobody is going to stop you from taking out your money when you desire to do so.
So let’s take a look at the options offered:
The basic account is called Iban Account and is the one that’s recommended to start off with for the first few days and weeks while you test out the waters. If you’re happy with how everything works, you can put in more money and access better returns, like those offered by the One, Market, and Dynamic accounts.
As you can see, with the latter three accounts you get projected higher returns. You will, however, have to agree to a minimum term (1, 3, or 5 years respectively). I think that’s fine. If you have a net worth in the six or seven figures, you can easily afford to park €50,000 or more of that into an account for 5 years when in return you’re getting 6%. If your cash net worth is more like €80,000, then I would suggest sticking to the One or Market accounts.
When you put your money in Iban, it’s best to adopt a long-term perspective. This is no get-rich-quick scheme and it’s very clear on the website that investor protection and sustainable returns are what Iban wallet is after, for everyone’s benefit.
New in 2020 are the short term accounts:
- Iban 30
- Iban 90
- Iban 180
The team at Iban has taken investor feedback and given us a solution for those of us who are not able or willing to commit to an investment for 1 year or more, especially in these shaky times we are going through.
So for these new accounts, we can invest for 30, 90 or 180 days respectively. The longer we commit the better return we get, as always. The other great feature is that there is no minimum investment amount required, so you can start with just €1.
📱 Iban wallet Mobile Application
The Iban wallet mobile app is an easy way to manage your investment and keep on top of things without needing to login to the website. It’s much more convenient in my opinion and a plus for this investment platform.
It is available for both Apple and Android devices, so nobody is left out.
⚖️ Pros and Cons of Investing with Iban wallet
Now that we’ve discussed Iban wallet, at some length, let’s summarise the pros and cons of investing your money with Iban Wallet.
Pros
- Low investment requirement – start with €1 with no term limit
- Strong investor protection
- Great app for both Android and iOS
- Daily interest
- High liquidity
Cons
- Interest rates lower than those on P2P lending platforms (such as Mintos, Twino, PeerBerry etc)
🤔 My Thoughts on Iban wallet
I think Iban Wallet need to improve their wording and make a clear distinction between the basic Iban account and the rest of their investment options. There are some restrictions on the other accounts that should be made clearer from the start. For example, on all accounts apart from the Iban account, you have an early termination fee of 2.5% (exceed the accrued interest at the time of the cancellation, so you always keep your initial investment).
Having said that, I think this platform is an excellent alternative to keeping money in the traditional bank accounts which don’t give us any interest anymore, and on top of that charge fees like monthly fees, set up fees, closing fees and transfer fees.
Banks are no longer the safe havens they once were; we’ve all seen how many of them went into trouble during the past financial crisis. They are still safe places to store money, but nowadays I try to diversify as much as possible, especially now that I’m young and I am chasing returns rather than just parking my money somewhere and letting it be devalued through the effects of inflation.
That’s why I think that it’s a great idea to put money into a platform like Iban wallet, which is a slightly riskier place to put your cash compared to a bank, but on the other hand, it gives much higher returns.
When you invest with Iban, they take the role of expert and manage your investments for you, selecting the best market opportunities, which often adds far greater protection than when the investor chooses individually the loans to invest in.
On top of this, they secure your funds with multiple protection layers, such as asset-backed loans, and underwriting policies.
Remember that with investments, one of the fundamental principles is diversification. Iban wallet allows you to have passive portfolio management as opposed to risky, variable returns and active management portfolios.
📣 Campaign of the Month
Click here to join Iban Wallet and take advantage of this offer.
This means that instead of the usual 2.5%, you are now able to get a 4% projected interest rate with no minimum deposit required and with all the benefits and flexibility this account brings.
Here are the full conditions:
The bonus will be attributed as soon as your deposit is confirmed on your Iban account. It can be applied instantly for deposits made with debit/credit card, or take up to 3-business days for bank transfers.
Make sure to insert the code when topping up your account. When selecting the amount to deposit, you should see a field “Promo code” right below.
Concluding Thoughts
To recap, some of the benefits of investing with Iban:
- Interest updated daily and directly in their account;
- Chance to start with only €1;
- The ability to request a withdrawal at any time;
- No service fees or commissions of any kind.
Have you invested with Iban Wallet? How is it going for you?
Summary
I like what Iban wallet are doing. They have created a different take on P2P lending and packaged it in a format that most people are more used to, that of savings accounts. It’s important to understand that these are different savings accounts than those that your bank provides, and that the risk is higher. However, the returns are also correspondingly much higher, and I feel that it’s a good trade-off.
Pros
- Very innovative platform
- Good support
- Excellent website
- Different risk profiles catered for
Cons
- Platform is quite new
I really like the site design and the marketing copy on the Iban Wallet website inspires trust.
However, I highly advise not to invest in this company until more information is provided.
There is no company or regulator information provided here in this review, or on the company website anywhere.
This is a huge red flag.
Also, the complete lack of transparency of how funds are invested (again absolutely no information at all, if they are working with other loan companies etc they should name name them), makes it look like a ponzi.
So, what is your company details? And where are you regulated? Who is your CEO etc?
And, how do you actually invest the money, as the website has no info whatseover about how the money is actually invested.
Unless these 2 questions can be answered comprehensively, I advise you remove this review from your site Jean, as I have seen in crypto, sites like this with no company info and no info on how funds are invested, 99% of the time they are ponzi schemes.
I look forward to being proved wrong and being provided good information.
Take care everyone, and I advise to be careful about this site and do not invest at this stage.
Dear Larry,
First of all, we appreciate your comments on our website.
We can certainly see where you are coming from, and hope we can clear some things.
We work very closely with regulators and regulated entities as Electronic Money Institutions (which are regulated by the European Central Bank) among others to ensure that we function according to the financial regulations of the countries in which we provide a service .
As for company information, you may find the legal entity name, along with address and company registration number, on our Terms and Conditions, which can be found on our website.
Finally, on the matter of how funds are invested, you may refer to https://www.ibanwallet.com/how-it-works for a more complete understanding of what we do. In short, funds are invested by purchasing credit rights from aggregated bundles of loans which have already been issued at the time of investment. This means that the Loan Originator is already invested in these loans and when investing in Iban, your investment is tied to a bundle of acquired credit rights from Loan Originators.
We understand that more information can be important for investors and are working on that matter. If you keep following us closely, you may soon be positively surprised.
Hi Jean,
Is this offer still on??? I am trying to use the code TOP(mentioned in your review blog) but it says incorrect/invalid code…..
Campaign of the month:Here’s your chance to get 1.5% extra projected interest with an Iban Account. This offer applies to new customers, who need to use the code TOP on their first deposit.
Here’s the latest offer: JGALEA
You get 1,5% extra interest at Iban Account for new customers with a minimum deposit of 200€
Hi Jean Galea!
Nice explanation and comments.
I’m an Iban Wallet user and with me all is working as expected.
Make great investments!
Thank you!
Hello Jean,
i have been using the platform since you posted this article and i am very happy about it although due to the raising concerned around p2p platform these days (Mintos applying a fee to sell loans on secondary market, grupeer as a scam , peerberry??) what would happen if Ibanwallet went busted?
Are all the safety measures in place strong enough (based on your experience) to see our money back to life?
Thanks a lot!
Matteo
Hi Matteo, glad you’re happy with Ibanwallet. I also think they’re on the right track and they’ve done a great job with their website and informative materials. They definitely look more reliable than some of the Baltic platforms.
According to my last email exchange with Iban Wallet’s team asking whether they are going through any negative changes:
“Fortunately, due to the way Iban’s business model is designed, we have not been experiencing such issues, and our operations are running as smoothly and dependably as ever.”
Nevertheless, I have suggested to them that they should focus on giving more information about how they invest our money, and they said that they are working on ways to become more transparent. Since they are not a traditional P2P lending platform, they can’t just list all the loan originators they work with. They’re somewhere between a P2P lending platform and a bank. And we all know that there is no chance that a bank will tell you all the ways they are investing the money you have deposited in your accounts. We’ll see what they come up with, but given that the rates are lower than P2P lending the investments should also be safer and not that susceptible to big changes in difficult times.
Hi Jean,
how safe you feel knowing that Iban Wallet is depositing our funds in an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) regulated by the European Central Bank? And in comparison to a well-establish bank in our most developed EU countries?
I still think that Ibanwallet is a great opportunity, but i am very afraid after knowing that grupeer went nuts and i am also having issues to sell and withdraw funds from Mintos …
Matteo
Hi Jean,
Do you if you need to pay goverment tax on iban wallet daily intertest and if yes how do you do it?
Regards
Clayton
In general yes, you need to pay tax on interest payments. Since it depends on your country of fiscal residence the best thing is to contact your accountant and ask him how it is calculated.
My Country is Malta like yours, If you are using it how do you do it exactly, you can send me a private email if you can give me a tip, because I am new to these things and I don’t want to receive a fine because I did’nt pay tax. I am not sure if these banking apps are traceable and maybe nowone cares to pay tax on them.
Thanks
Clayton
Please check with a local accountant Clayton, I don’t live in Malta.
Thank you!
– If you deposit 1.000 euros in the first account, you mean that really every day you see an interest on your account? How many decimals are displayed, as 1.000 * 2.5% / 365 is a very very small amount 🙂
– if for testing purposes you register for the first iban, can you later in the month ‘migrate’ it to a higher return account? Or you need to create a second iban?
– the bank account where you have to make the deposits is based in which country?
Thank you!
Sorry for the delay, I got in touch with Iban directly to get the replies for you:
Please find below the answers to the questions:
– If you deposit 1.000 euros in the first account, you mean that really every day you see an interest on your account? How many decimals are displayed, as 1.000 * 2.5% / 365 is a very very small amount 🙂
Our FAQs explain this in detail how daily interest is calculated and this applies to all the products from “Iban Account” to “Iban Dynamic”.
About the number displayed for projected daily results, we are showing up to two decimals. Just to make it more clear, it’s a projected 2.5% AER per year
– if for testing purposes you register for the first iban, can you later in the month ‘migrate’ it to a higher return account? Or you need to create a second iban?
When you register, you automatically start with the “Iban Account” (the one projecting 2.5% AER). After you make your first deposit, you may access other types of accounts with your own profile. Funds must be topped up from your Iban Account.
The Iban Account is always the first point of contact (so to speak) between your bank account and the other products. So you first have money flow between a) your bank account and the Iban Account and b) between your Iban Account and other types of products we offer.
In short:
You can have multiple products from a single profile
The first deposit is always made to your “Iban Account”, only then can you access the others if you want to
To top-up the other products (One, Market or Dynamic), you must always deposit to Iban Account first, and from there transfer any amount to the selected products .
You can only transfer to your Iban Account from a bank account in your own name.
– the bank account where you have to make the deposits is based in which country?
We work with an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) which is regulated by the European Central Bank.
Thank you Jean,
I have several questions :
1- if the article has been written by Filipe Silva, why does it appear on your blog ? And what was your contribution ?
2- can it be considered as a promoted article, vs your other blog posts ?
3- compared to loans on other plarforms like Mintos, Grupeer, etc…, is this investment less risky; and why ?
4- let’s assume you deposit 1.000 euros on the first type / Iban account; they say that you received daily a fixed 2.5% AER; as this is a very very low amount,
how is this daily interest appearing on your account ? i.e. how many digits after the coma are displayed ? That puzzles me a bit…
5- if you have such an account, does the interest match with the promised return rate ?
6- by what factors is the interest rate influenced during the year ? and what if it falls down to 0 % (can it happen) ?
A lot of questions 🙂 – so thanks a lot for your time responding !
Hi,
I have reached out to Iban to comment themselves on some of your questions as you raised some excellent points.
The article is a guest post by Mr Silva, as mentioned in the beginning of the article. I have not contributed to this post, but I made sure it’s in line with my experience of investing with Iban and what I know about the platform and the industry overall.
I’d like to report to report about my account’s performance at a later stage as this was one of my more recent investments.
O.K. great
Dear Centrino, this is Filipe from Iban Wallet. Thank you for your questions! Let me answer as clearly as possible:
For questions 1 + 2, and as Jean already explained this article is a guest post made in collaboration with Iban Wallet. This is not a promoted article.
3- As you are aware, all investments involve some degree of risk. However, we have put in place several investor protection measures that Jean has analysed in his review:
https://jeangalea.com/investment-fintechs-p2p-iban-wallet-model/ (check under the section “How is the user protected?”)
For further information you can also check here on our FAQs:
https://bit.ly/2OYc19l
Moreover, since you don’t have to do any active management (for example, in selecting loans), it is more user-friendly, which makes it more accessible.
4- Our FAQs explain this in detail how daily interest is calculated and this applies to all the products from “Iban Account” to “Iban Dynamic”, please check this link:
https://bit.ly/2Htta6Q
About the number displayed for projected daily results, we are showing up to two decimals. Just to make it more clear, it’s a projected 2.5% AER per year
5- We will let Jean answer this one for you 🙂 However, keep in mind that these are projected results.
6- The way we are structured, our operations have been thought to offer as little variation as possible. As the Loan Originators apply higher interest rates, it’s from this difference that they cover their costs and make their profit. In theory, the variation should only have an impact on the Loan Originators’ side. This does not mean that fixed returns are guaranteed, however, we work every day to prevent this.
Hope this helped to clarify your doubts. Have a great day!
Thank you for your expanded answers Filipe. I’ll reads the FAQs you indicated.
One last question : can you start with the basic iban, for testing purposes. And then migrate this iban to another higher interest account? Or you new to create another / a second account?
Thanks again 🙂
That’s a pretty unique system, I haven’t seen other platforms use such a strategy.
Looking forward to trying out Iban, it seems like a better alternative to the measly rates offered by banks nowadays.
Great article! I will give it a try.
Hi Jean
Interesting stuff! Thanks for the post.
I tried to top-up with your code, but it tells me that the auction code is not active. Has it already expired?
Thanks,
Philippe
Thanks Philippe, the code should work, did you get any error message?
I tried again to top up and enter the Promo code into the field below the amount field. It says: “Inactive promotion”
I’ll check with Ibanwallet and post back here once it’s fixed.
Hi Philippe, I’ve updated the post with the latest promo code.
Hello Jean.am from Uganda East Africa and I have been trying to open up an account with Ivan but failed,, isn’t because its not in my country
I’m not sure if investors from Uganda are allowed to join, please contact Iban to see if they have any restrictions at the moment.