Power to savers with online interest rate auction

by Gill Montia

Story link: Power to savers with online interest rate auction

UK banks and building societies are being invited to take part in a new market place for savers (individuals, companies and organisations) that can be found at Licuro.com.

The site is operated by Licuro.com UK Ltd, which claims to be Europe’s first and largest online interest rate auction house.

Registered users can auction their savings directly to banks and building societies, choosing how much they want to deposit and for how long.

In turn, banks and building societies bid against each other, offering their best available interest rates.

The website says it is aimed those with deposits of over £12,000 available for a fixed term of between 14 and 730 days.

According to Licuro, savers/depositors can expect competing bids from FSA-regulated banks and building societies within two hours of registering online and offers are valid (no obligation for the depositor) for 24 hours.

Registration costs £5.75 for a single transaction or £33.35 for an annual subscription, however, new users can make use of a free trial until 1st September 2009.

Deposit takers pay a fee only if a transaction is agreed upon, in which case the fee is calculated on a sliding scale.

A sister site, mybanker.biz, has been up and running in Denmark for some time and claims that savers have achieved rates on average 1% higher than the average they would attain by going direct to a bank or building society.