The banking industry is massive and it’s one where loyalty no longer pays.
Banks, for some weird reason, don’t appear interested in customer loyalty, but weirdly prefer to keep paying more to onboard new customers.
A significant number of them, some traditional banks, others are fintech banking applications for on-the-go banking, will pay affiliates good money to get site owners and list owners to refer new business their way.
Why use bank affiliate programs?
For one, it’s highly competitive because of consumer interest, but nowhere near as competitive as you may imagine.
These programs aren’t like investing accounts like Forex, day trading accounts or even cryptocurrency affiliate programs requiring in-depth knowledge of technology or finance to be successful.
Instead, these are banks and applications for everyday families, students, and couples to do their traditional banking, just elsewhere.
It’s technology and accounts that people are used to using every day… the card, the app, the customer service and of course: the bonus incentive for switching banks as most will pay affiliates and a new customer incentive to bring new customers aboard.
Besides personal finance, there’s also niche sectors within the banking industry such as gold bullion for investors and banks with integrated trading platforms for stock traders.
If you know a thing or two about investments, more niche bank affiliate programs can be a terrific monetization option for your content.
Banking-Related Website ideas
- Build a money-saving blog focused on a specific group. i.e. parents, students, or seniors.
- Focus on the credit repair aspect by pointing people to banks offering ‘second chance checking accounts’, which are specifically to help people restore credit after their credit report has been damaged by previous mistakes with money.
- Financial services review sites could be a good way to go as people do want to know a lot of information before they’ll deal with financial organizations because they require volumes of personal data. Trust is a big issue. For many, more so than saving money, which is why people want trustworthy reviews on any bank, credit, or loan firm before they take the plunge. Bank affiliate programs can be a step into a much larger financial market.
- Travel affiliates and ex-pats can integrate bank affiliate programs to recommend accounts that’s best for those who need regular foreign exchange or access to lower fees for international transactions, whether it’s for sending money home or for the traveling digital nomad needing different currencies often.
12 Bank Affiliate Programs
- N26
- Revolut
- Barclays Online Savings
- Ally Invest
- BBVA
- Euro Pacific Bank
- GetPenta.com
- CIT Bank
- Rate Supermarket
- Axos Bank
- Radius Bank
- Chime Banking App
1. N26
N26 is the first online bank in Europe to become fully-licensed and it’s available to American Citizens too. At the moment, they don’t have options for Canada and as of April 2020, N26 will have exited the UK financial market because of licensing complications caused by Brexit.
The online bank account from N26 comes with a Mastercard to use internationally. Business users, such as Digital Nomads can benefit from reduced overseas transaction fees, lower cost wire transfers and free withdrawals in any country with no foreign transaction fees.
Do you think your readers would like an introduction to N26?
They will if they travel a lot, send money internationally (paying per transfer), and for European frequent travelers, included with the account is a travel insurance policy for medical emergencies as well as compensation for flight or luggage delays that extend beyond four hours in any European airport.
The insurance is provided by Allianz insurance, which does have a good reputation and is one of the better-known insurers that people are familiar with.
The N26 affiliate program is managed by Impact.com and affiliates are paid 20 Euros per successful referral using a 90-day referral period. There are also bonuses paid on top of the standard commission when your referrals open an N26 premium account.
Apply to the N26 affiliate program here.
2. Revolut
Revolut is another FinTech company that was founded in 2015 with recent plans to launch in the USA through a partnership with Mastercard.
In addition to traditional banking features, there’s also options for business bank accounts and accounts tailored for freelancers. The banking app is available in multiple languages too.
Among the perks of Revolut is borderless banking using the interbank exchange rates to support 150 currencies. Most international payments made are free and charged at 0.5% at the weekends.
Revolut is the banking technology but funds are held with their partner bank, the Metropolitan Commercial Bank.
Apply to become a Revolut affiliate partner here.
3. Barclays Online Savings
Barclays have everything. Credit cards, mortgages, checking accounts, loans, and savings. The latter though is the only type of Barclays account you can earn a commission on. There are different referral programs run from time to time, but those are usually a refer-a-friend promotion.
The affiliate program for Barclays is run through Commission Junction and pays a $2 commission on both Savings Accounts and Personal CD accounts and the cookies are set for 45-days. The EPCs on this program are HIGH. Like, 7-day EPC of $600+. People know the name and so they do open accounts.
Apply to join the Barclays US affiliate program through CJ.com.
4. Ally Invest
Ally.com is included in this list of bank affiliate programs only because it is a bank, but the affiliate program is only for investors. Not people looking for a traditional bank account with an ATM card.
That said, it’s a name people know and for those with disposable income looking to grow their savings or pension pots, an Ally Invest account could be an alternative to a Barclays Online Savings Account, depending on the person’s attitude to risk.
The Ally Invest affiliate program is on Commission Junction and pays $25 per new account opened and has a 45-day cookie period.
Log into CJ.com and search for Ally Invest to join the affiliate program.
5. BBVA
BBVA has been around for over five decades and they cater to any household and business. Unlike the other banks mentioned previously, that’s either focused on attracting new customers for savings or investment accounts, BBVA pays commissions across a bigger range of bank accounts.
The audience you could promote to is broad. You can do personal finance, small business finance, personal loans and even mortgage products.
The BBVA bank affiliate program is managed by Commission Junction and pays $85 per qualified referral. The downside is the cookies are session-based meaning you don’t get credit if your referral clicks off the site, then returns to continue the application.
Log into CJ.com and search for BBVA to join the affiliate program.
6. Euro Pacific Bank
The Euro Pacific Bank is an offshore bank, which many will have their own preconceptions of. Like, the places to put your money when you don’t want the government to know about it.
The flip side of that is, keeping your money in the same country puts your savings at political risk because of Capital Control measures like what happened in Greece in 2015 when the government couldn’t make their debt repayments. They closed the banks, limited ATM withdrawals and prevented any money leaving the country.
Western banks tend to diversify their investments through trading. One big advantage with Euro Pacific Bank is that they don’t. They’re what’s called a full-reserve bank making them ideal for savers and investors. As they do not lend, they won’t appeal to people who want a loan.
In addition to traditional online banking features, the Euro Pac Bank also has precious metals storage accounts. Customers can buy, store and sell gold and silver.
The affiliate program is managed in-house and the details aren’t listed publicly. Judging by affiliate comments in an online forum discussing not receiving commission from Euro Pac Bank, their in-house support made a tutorial video and posted it to YouTube.com (unlisted) to show affiliates how to get their payments.
That’s top-notch support from the affiliate team.
FYI: you can be paid by wire transfer or direct to your own Euro Pacific Bank account. But, you need to update your account to tell them how to pay you.
Sign up here to join the Euro Pac Bank affiliate program.
7. Penta
Penta is an up-and-coming digital bank. A challenger of sorts that’s aimed at business banking.
The company only started in 2017 and within two years they have over 16,000 German businesses banking with them. Since then, they’ve partnered with SumUp, a point-of-sale (POS) platform that lets offline business simplify their sales processes and digitize their accounts.
More recently, Penta has partnered with solarisBank, which is fully-licensed in Europe, and that’s led them to their first expansion into Italy – the first stage of their international expansion.
As a fintech firm, they provide the technology and rely on bank partnerships due to licensing requirements which differ by country.
The target audience for Penta is small businesses in Germany and Italy for now with more countries expected to follow.
The affiliate program is managed in-house and the commission structure is variable so be prepared to negotiate your terms. Don’t just think about commissions. Consider the length of cookie time you need too.
Apply to join the GetPenta.com affiliate program here.
8. CIT Bank
The CIT abbreviation stands for Commercial Investment Trust and the bank has been in business for over a century. In that time, the product range has expanded to cater to consumer finance.
As an online-only bank, they have fewer overheads than other big names allowing them to offer competitive interest rates to people looking for high-interest savings accounts.
The CIT Bank affiliate program is another that’s managed by Commission Junction. They pay $100 per qualified lead and give you a 30-day referral period.
Applicable products are for savings accounts and include Personal CD accounts (term and no penalty CDs), Money Market Accounts and the Savings Builder Accounts.
Sign up or log in to your CJ.com account and search for CIT bank to join.
9. Rate Supermarket
Rate Supermarket is a comparison website for Canadian personal finance. Within the bank category, there’s over a hundred accounts and they provide you with various tools to help your readers/subscribers compare their options.
People can use the site to find the best savings accounts including TFSA (Tax-Free Savings Accounts), children’s accounts, bank accounts for seniors, student accounts and personal checking accounts.
As a comparison site, the commission you earn will be based on the commission Rate Supermarket receive from the banks they’re partnered with.
Payments are paid to your PayPal account once you’ve reached the $50 minimum threshold.
Apply to join the RateSupermarket.ca affiliate program here.
10. Axos Bank
Axos Bank is a US online-only bank suited to those looking for a savings accounts,
personal CD accounts and checking accounts. There’s no monthly fees and they
also reimburse ATM fees.
Support is available 24/7 and is based in the US. Phone, email, live chat, and Twitter.
Axos Bank affiliates can earn $75 commission fees for funded checking accounts and $175 commission on funded savings accounts. The affiliate program is run on the LinkShare (Rakuten Marketing) platform and uses 45-day cookies.
To apply to the Axos Bank affiliate program, sign up or log into LinkShare here.
11. Radius Bank
Radius Bank is another online-only bank that brings together FinTech with traditional banking features and 24/7 customer support via phone, email and social media.
Radius has been involved in the financial tech sector since 1987, which is longer than most, making them one of the longest-running challenger banks in the US.
While Radius is primarily focused on consumer finance, they do partner with other banks to serve businesses so if you’re an affiliate, keep an eye on the financial news for the latest updates as there can be more earning potential through Radius Partner programs.
As an example, Business Insider published information about NorthOne Bank partnering with Radius Bank for API-enabled banking. The NorthOne Bank affiliate program is listed on Offervault.com as paying affiliates $120 referral fees with the program run on the Max Bounty affiliate network.
The Radius Bank affiliate program is managed by Aragon Advertising, a premium network for content creators and influencers. While the commission rates and cookie duration aren’t listed publicly, Aragon Advertising pay affiliates 80% revenue share and assign you a dedicated affiliate manager to help with your promotions.
Sign up with Aragon Advertising to promote the Radius Bank affiliate program
12. Chime Banking App
Chime is a mobile banking app that’s targeted towards millennials. It is not a bank, but rather a bank account and it’s a hybrid account at that. Chime call their accounts a spending account as you can get money paid into it and spend from the same app.
For millennials who only need a simple account to transfer money, get paid and take advantage of features like split the bill, which sends a text to friends with a link to pay their share for a meal or drinks or cinema tickets etc. Chime could be a good fit.
If you were to categorize it, it’d be best described as student bank account.
There’s no monthly maintenance fees, no foreign transaction fees, or overdraft fees as if the money isn’t there, the transaction is declined.
For those trying to save, the app has an optional rounding facility that rounds up any debit card payments to the nearest dollar and puts the cents directly to the savings account. Buy something that costs $3.75, the account will be debited $4 with the $0.25 difference automatically transferred to the savings account.
This would be a good fit for a personal finance blog geared toward student savings.
As with the Radius Bank above, the affiliate program for the Chime Banking App is managed by Aragon Advertising.
Sign up to Aragon Advertising to promote the Chime banking app.
