Media monitors Streem analysed stories from the nation's leading 22 newspapers and news websites, and found instances of the term 'neobank' has fallen 74% from the term's peak in February.

Digital or direct banking mentions in general dropped by two thirds.

Need somewhere to store cash and earn interest? The table below features introductory savings accounts with some of the highest interest rates on the market.

Update resultsUpdate
BankSavings AccountBase Interest Rate Max Interest Rate Total Interest Earned Introductory Term Minimum Amount Maximum Amount Minimum Monthly Deposit Minimum Opening Deposit ATM Access Joint Application TagsFeaturesLinkCompare
4.75% p.a.
5.35% p.a.
Intro rate for 4 months
then 4.75% p.a.
$518
4 months
$0
$499,999
$0
$0
Featured
  • A high-interest online savings account with no monthly fees, easy withdrawals and award-winning digital banking
  • No withdrawal notice periods or interest rate penalties
  • Save up to 10% on eGift cards at over 50 retailers with Macquarie Marketplace
Disclosure
4.70% p.a.
5.40% p.a.
Intro rate for 4 months
then 4.70% p.a.
$519
4 months
$250,000
$99,999,999
$0
$0
Featured
  • Special offer: Savings Accelerator (Kick Starter offer).
  • For a limited time, new ING customers can get a bonus 0.70% p.a. on their savings rate on balances of $150,000 up to $500,000 for the first 4 months. T&Cs apply.
  • If your balance is over $500,000 (but less than $5 million) you will earn the ongoing variable rate of 4.7%
Disclosure
Bonus rate of 5.50%
Rate varies on savings amount.
5.50% p.a.
$556
$0
$99,999
$0
$0
Featured
  • Set up your Pay Cycle and connect your accounts from over 140 financial institutions.
  • Retrace your spending steps into categories with Spending Footprint.
  • Start tapping straightaway with Apple Pay, Google Pay™, Samsung Pay, and Garmin Pay.
  • No monthly or international fees on any of your transactions.
Disclosure
0.55% p.a.
Bonus rate of 4.95%
Rate varies on savings amount.
5.50% p.a.
$556
$0
$99,999
$1,000
$0
  • Deposit at least $1,000+ each month from an external source
  • Make 5 or more eligible transactions
  • Grow your savings balance each month
Disclosure
1.00% p.a.
Bonus rate of 4.20%
Rate varies on savings amount.
5.20% p.a.
$526
$0
$99,999,999
$1,000
$0
  • Earn up to 5.20% pa by depositing $1,000 in the previous month
  • No account fees
  • Easy access to your money
Disclosure
0.55% p.a.
Bonus rate of 5.00%
Rate varies on savings amount.
5.55% p.a.
$561
$0
$99,999
$2,000
$0
0.10% p.a.
Bonus rate of 5.40%
Rate varies on savings amount.
5.50% p.a.
$556
$0
$49,999
$200
$1
0.05% p.a.
Bonus rate of 5.30%
Rate varies on savings amount.
5.35% p.a.
$541
$0
$249,999
$1,000
$$formattedMinOpeningDep.format("%,d",$!{product.minimumOpeningDeposit})
0.10% p.a.
Bonus rate of 5.00%
Rate varies on savings amount.
5.10% p.a.
$515
$0
$99,999
$100
$1
0.01% p.a.
Bonus rate of 5.24%
Rate varies on savings amount.
5.25% p.a.
$531
$0
$99,999
$100
$0
0.10% p.a.
Bonus rate of 5.00%
Rate varies on savings amount.
5.10% p.a.
$515
$0
$49,999
$10
$0
4.85% p.a.
5.35% p.a.
$490
$0
$99,999,999
$0
$0
More savings accounts
Important Information and Comparison Rate Warning

All products with a link to a product provider’s website have a commercial marketing relationship between us and these providers. These products may appear prominently and first within the search tables regardless of their attributes and may include products marked as promoted, featured or sponsored. The link to a product provider’s website will allow you to get more information or apply for the product. By de-selecting “Show online partners only” additional non-commercialised products may be displayed and re-sorted at the top of the table. For more information on how we’ve selected these “Sponsored”, “Featured” and “Promoted” products, the products we compare, how we make money, and other important information about our service, please click here. Rates correct as of . View disclaimer.

Important Information and Comparison Rate Warning

In February alone, five neobanks -  Xinja, 86 400, Tyro, Volt Bank and Judo Bank - notched 218 media mentions, while in May that figure was 71.

Xinja experienced the biggest contraction in media mentions since January, when the bank gained attention for offering its then-2.25% p.a. unconditional savings account interest rate with a relatively high $245,000 cap.

In March, Xinja again created headlines for opting not to cut its interest rate, but instead closed off the product for new customers.

It has since reduced its interest rate to 1.80% p.a., although Xinja has still walled off the product for new customers.

Overall, since June 2019, Xinja saw the most media items at 444, and 86 400 had 402.

For reference, ING notched 2,507 media items, ME Bank 657 and UBank 392, while the big four banks all notched between 15,000 and 19,000.

Note: an earlier version of this story described Prospa as a neobank. It is not a 'neobank' as it is not an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution (ADI).

Buy now, pay later also drops in profile

Buy now, pay later companies such as AfterpayZip and Klarna also experienced a drop in profile since the pandemic hit.

However, Afterpay still dominates its nearest rival Zip, with 3.5-times the number of media items.

In the past 12 months, Afterpay racked up more than 5,000 media items, while Zip and Klarna had less than 1,500 and 500 respectively. 

Afterpay also notched more media items than Visa and Mastercard.

The study looked at media items in 22 major Australian newspapers and news websites from June 2019 to May 2020. Sentiment was not measured. ‘Up’ bank had to be removed for technical reasons.

See Also: Greater Bank rated most trustworthy bank, Bank of China the least trustworthy

streem

Source: Streem





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