Rabobank start-up Easytrade signs contract with Finnish bank

Rabo start-up Easytrade has signed a contract with the Finnish bank OP Financial Group. Easytrade offers a platform with which companies with a foreign currency account can automate the currency risk process. Rabobank will also make the currency platform itself available to a large proportion of its corporate clients.

Many companies struggle with currency risks because foreign exchange rates change on a daily basis. Calculating the current risks and expected cash flows is complex and time-consuming and often only one person is responsible for this process. In addition, the price may change unfavorably due to unexpected market conditions, which can leave companies dealing with losses.

Easytrade ensures a more efficient and better risk management for companies by filtering and covering all risks of foreign currency from the administration in just a few seconds. The system helps companies to enter all their orders, invoices or expected revenues and expenses and cover the risks according to company policy at the press of a button. ‘This saves companies unnecessary transactions, time and money’, says Niels van Daatselaar, co-founder Easytrade.

Easytrade was developed as a venture of Rabobank for corporate clients. In addition to Rabobank, the Finnish bank OP Financial Group is also going to offer the currency services to its corporates. ’We are very enthusiastic about Easytrade’s proposition and look forward to working with them to offer better and better services’, says Olli Lämsä of OP Markets. 
There is interest from abroad for the unique Easytrade software, according to Van Daatselaar. ‘It has been developed for our corporates, but there is much broader enthusiasm than we initially assumed.’

From idea to start-up 
Easytrade originated as a start-up from the Moonshot campaign, Rabobank’s internal acceleration program. During the campaign, employees of the bank have the chance to come up with innovative ideas. Easytrade was one of the winners in 2015 and was then given the opportunity to work out the idea. Since the beginning of 2016, the team has spoken to more than 200 corporate clients with a turnover of EUR 10 million to 1 billion on hedging their foreign currency risks. The insights from these interviews formed the basis for the team to develop the Easytrade software.