With 5.19% AER on GBP, 5.39% on USD and 3.83% on EUR (variable), Lightyear Vaults offer the highest available rate for flexible interest-earning products in GBP, without any restrictive terms or hidden conditions. (1) Remember that when you invest, your capital is at risk.
Why choose Lightyear Vaults?
In a financial landscape where the Bank of England rate remains at a 16-year-high (5.25%, as of August 2023), most easy-access savings accounts are still only offering average rates of 2%. (2)
Separate research found that ‘a rainy day fund’ was the top reason for saving (3), making it evident that people are looking for better opportunities to grow their money without compromising on easy access. That's why Lightyear is launching Vaults, providing the flexibility customers in the UK crave alongside competitive interest rates.
How Lightyear Vaults work
Lightyear Vaults allow users to invest in AAA-rated money market funds managed by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with over $10 trillion in assets under management. These funds typically require a minimum investment of £1 million (4) and are now accessible to all Lightyear customers with a simple user interface.
Here’s what you need to know:
- High interest rates: Earn 5.19% AER on GBP, 5.39% on USD and 3.83% on EUR (variable).
- Daily interest accrual: Overnight interest that tracks the live rates, calculated daily and paid out monthly.
- Flexibility: Easy access to your cash with no withdrawal minimums or maximums. Same day withdrawals back to Lightyear accounts, same (or next day latest) external withdrawals.
- Transparency and low fees: A straightforward 0.25% fee, combining a 0.10% BlackRock fee and a 0.15% Lightyear fee.
Compared to other interest-earning products that often come with complex conditions and hidden fees, Lightyear Vaults offer a straightforward and highly competitive rate with unmatched flexibility. This product is ideal for investors holding diverse portfolios across major currencies, allowing them to optimise their returns without incurring constant foreign exchange fees.
Our new high interest Vaults will help people across Europe to make the most out of globally high interest rates. It’s not in our nature to do things by halves, so we’re offering the highest rate on the market out of flexible interest-earning products. We’re able to do that because we’re giving customers access to a cash-based investment product that’s usually been reserved for high net worth individuals. Cash has become an asset class in its own right recently, forming proportions of people’s investment portfolios, so it’s been increasingly important to us that we build something customers really want - with the same transparency, low fees and quality of the rest of the platform. We’re so excited to bring Vaults to the market, offering the flexibility and easy access that people want, with a product that tracks the overnight interest rate.
Martin Sokk
our co-founder & CEO
Available across 11 markets
Lightyear Vaults will be available in 11 major European markets: the UK, Austria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Spain.
If you don’t see your country on the list, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we’ll see what we can do with our product roadmap for future launches.
1. Based on Lightyear’s analysis on 26.04.24 - please ask to see the full analysis. This is out of a range of different types of interest-earning products selected according to their similar levels of flexibility to Vaults. Note these are a mixture of financial products with differing risk levels and protections. Please note Lightyear is not a bank, and does not offer an ISA. Money market funds do not have deposit protection insured by the FSCS; it is an investment product with different protections for assets (see here).
Disclaimer
This is an investment product, so capital is at risk. Terms apply and customers should seek guidance if needed. Interest rate is variable and correct as of 22.05.24.
By Martin Sokk
Martin is a lifelong product builder in the finance world having joined Wise as the first product person. Martin began working with Mihkel on the idea for Lightyear in the summer of 2020. After meeting for a coffee to catch up, they both quickly realised that they shared a strong opinion: investing in Europe is still broken.
