Banco Sabadell is immersed in a transformation process with which it wants to attract more individuals, after traditionally having a strong position in other segments such as business banking. With this objective, it will launch this week a new digital current account that will pay 2% annual interest up to 20,000 euros. The bank will thus remunerate sight balances, without the need to set aside any amount for deposits or other products.
In addition to a 2% APR, the new online account will not charge fees or impose conditions, will include free debit and credit cards, and will return 3% of electricity and gas bills without limit of quantity. All benefits are offered indefinitely, although it will be studied whether the interest rate is varied upwards or downwards if market conditions change significantly.
In comparison with the digital account created just over a year ago by Sabadell, the new account worsens the remuneration, going from 2.5% to 2%, but maintains it beyond the first 12 months. The 200 euro bonus for direct deposit of salary is also lost and the maximum balance to be remunerated is decreased, going from 30,000 euros to 20,000 euros. According to the entity, the amount has been lowered because it already includes the sight balances held by 98% of Spaniards. Customers with this previous account will maintain their benefits until they expire, at which point they will have those of the new product.
The Sabadell Digital Account will be added to a portfolio consisting of the Sabadell Account, for branch customers, and the Key Account, designed for expats who settle in the country. Since 2022, the Sabadell Account replaced the Avanza, Expansión Plus, Mi Familia and Experiencia accounts, reorganizing them into a single product. With the new Sabadell Digital Account, Sabadell Account customers will have their conditions equated "with an equivalent offer."
Despite signing up online, users of the new digital account will have unrestricted access to the entity's network of offices and ATMs. "Now we have the capabilities of a direct bank with the advantages of a traditional one," summarizes the CEO of Banco Sabadell, César González-Bueno. The digitalization of its services is part of the strategy change promoted in the last two years, focusing on products such as accounts, consumer loans, and cards, and maintaining support in others such as mortgages, insurance, savings, or investment. With this commitment to the online channel, the entity has registered 55% of new customer sign-ups and 46% of card contracting remotely in the first nine months of this year, figures that have accelerated since 2021.
The executive assures that the Sabadell Online Account will be profitable from the beginning because it will allow gaining new customers, with a "reasonable" acquisition cost, although he has declined to quantify how many they aim to attract. Currently, Sabadell has a 7% market share in retail banking, 10% with account holders. The universe they are targeting with the new product is the 37 million Spaniards with a current account.
Asked if they also plan to launch commercial deposits to attract new customers, González-Bueno emphasizes that there are only 2.7 million deposit holders in Spain. This represents 6.5% of customers, a lower percentage than when the deposit peak occurred in 2001, with 13%. Sabadell does not believe that deposits will regain the weight they had more than 20 years ago, since it is "an old product" and there are "other much more evolved and more fiscally attractive products," in the words of its CEO. "Deposit holders are people who have savings capacity and little sophistication. Now we are targeting those who do not have that savings capacity because their current account flow goes up and then down, and no one gives them anything," the executive adds.