As happens with technology, where the user experience is so important that it can define the future of a company, banking begins to be aggiornarse.
With an eye on its customers, the sector begins to leave behind decades of traditional models that tend to expel people from these "boring" spaces.
In Argentina, bank branches slowly begin to change, in addition to offering financial services, to meet the additional needs of their current and potential users.
Driven by new generations and the advance of digital banking, local players adopt the latest models and incorporate premises with cafeteria and coworking, promoting collaboration and automated operations.
With the emphasis on design, the new branches appear as friendly spaces where leisure and the possibility of generating new business intersect.
The pioneers
Despite the fact that in the last year this model of branches began to be noticed, one of the first initiatives dates back to 2015. That year, a store of the Starbucks coffee chain was opened at the Banco Industrial headquarters.
The intention was to offer a new experience of attention, as well as providing greater proximity and comfort to those who attended.
"We understand that the branch model is being transformed and we must be prepared for this change", remarks Karina Yankillevich, manager of Private Banking at Bind, in dialogue with iProUP.
And complete: "Customers operate more and more from mobile devices and that is why, incorporating the cafeteria to the branch, we make available to users all services in one place."
In addition, for the Sapphire premium segment, Grupo Bind offers fully equipped meeting rooms and personalized service at the physical branch to serve the most exclusive group of clients of the bank.
In the same way, Comafi is located, which this year launched Comafi Único, a proposal for the highest income segment that makes up its premium portfolio.
This offer is composed of coworking spaces that can, as well as a work bar, WiFi connection and small meeting rooms, among other amenities.
"This initiative came from listening to users and their needs," says Gustavo Paz, manager of Comafi Único.
"But we were looking for something different, disruptive, that was not in the market, although the initiative also has everything inherent to the lifestyle of the clients, such as travel benefits, rest, inspiring experiences, points program, preferential treatment, rooms vip in airports and exclusive advice, among others, we add attributes that also give support to this same audience in their professional life, "explains the executive iProUP.
In this way, the proposal also expands to various branches of the financial institution.
With coffee aroma
The "cafecito" so typical of the Argentines also got into the banks to make the stay more pleasant for its users. Banco Galicia is one of the main responsible for bringing this experience with the inclusion of a Starbucks as part of its value proposition.
The first one was inaugurated in 2016, also offering a coworking area with free Wi-Fi and all the typical banking attention of a traditional branch, but emphasizing a personalized way of advising and automatic banking with self-management terminals.
"This new branch design responds to the need to establish a new relationship with the customer to meet different requirements and times, after years without any growth in Argentine banking," says Diego Baccini, manager of the branch network of the entity .
"In this way, we walk towards a mix that combines the digital world with the traditional world, erasing the limit of the bank branch to get into the daily life of people," says the director of Galicia iProUP.
In this quest to make the relationship with the bank more flexible, a new branch was recently inaugurated in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Recoleta, on the corner of Billinghurst and Las Heras, which is heading towards the digital transformation that is already imminent.
In this line, Galicia is also implementing another type of multiformat branches adapted to the requirements of each square, such as those installed in industrial parks or remote regions where previously they were not, such as Viedma or Bahía Blanca. It also adds the expansion of its In Store with extended hours from Monday to Monday.
At present, there are already 70 multiformat branches connected, including all those in which WiFi can already be used within the premises according to the latest more flexible regulations of the Central Bank.
Despite its innovations and those that are still in the folder, Baccini recognizes that these models are not for all entities, since "there is still the need for traditional banking," he confesses.
In this connection of different types of worlds is also Santander Río, which opened its first Work Café in the neighborhood of Recoleta, on Santa Fe Avenue at 1600.
There is a two-storey building where a cafeteria, a coworking space, meeting rooms, a reading corner that allows downloading books for free through a QR code and WiFi service, among other amenities, coexist. All this, in a collaborative environment where the possibility of promoting new business is implicit.
"The fundamental reason for this space is to be able to give something back to society," explains Silvia Tenazinha, Santander Río's commercial manager at iProUP.
"We seek to understand current needs, especially at a very special moment in Argentina, where microenterprises grow very strongly, what we want is for this to be an incubator of new businesses," the executive said.
He adds: "The idea is to put a work space in front of us, if new initiatives arise, surely we will have more work later".
In addition, this location has two ATMs with withdrawal limits of up to $ 50,000, an island of digital banking and, if required, financial advice to perform the same operations as in a traditional branch, such as the application and delivery of cards in the moment.
The advanced of the digital branches
As the need to accelerate banking procedures and transactions grows, digitization is imposed by transforming those services that may be available in financial locations.
But for its implementation does not become a violent intrusion, local banks offer through their digital branches the possibility that their customers approach the technology in a pleasant way.
For example, Banco Nación has just inaugurated two of these locations in Catamarca and Neuquén. Each of these points has commercial attention points, ATMs, telephone banking, Wi-Fi, tablets and computers so that customers can perform transactions through the app and the home banking of the entity.
But personalized attention is not left aside, since it is possible to have advice, delivery and reception of product and operations requests.
The Nation's strategy is based on the concept of "proximity bank" and, due to this, it plans to open more than 50 electronic branches throughout the country.
For its part, the City offers its customers three digital spaces (in its Head Office, in front of the Obelisk and in the Núñez branch) that provide extended service until 8:00 pm.
This allows operations to be carried out outside banking hours, such as opening a savings account, initiating the process to obtain a mortgage loan, managing a personal loan and making transfers conveniently and safely, among others.
All these procedures are managed from the electronic devices that have these branches, such as ATMs, self-service terminals and PC (to use home banking and the self-management portal) and VTM (multifunction device), as well as comfortable environments for contact through of the telephone banking.
"These digital spaces allow us to shorten the gap between digital and purely face-to-face clients, helping and assisting the latter in the use of different digital tools," they explain from the City.
At the same time, the parent company is simultaneously an art space, where various artists are permanently exhibited. Thus, they invite users and occasional visitors to enjoy the exhibited collections and, at the same time, make transactions.
In addition, the bank is analyzing the possibility of moving forward with projects linked to gastronomic and cultural spaces in its new tower on 326 Maipú Street.
The strategy
Today more than ever, entities must "listen" to their customers if they do not want to lose users at the hands of technology or other actors who invite to live distinctive and more pleasant experiences than those offered by traditional branches.
It is not about optimizing costs to compete with the new digital banking, but about larger investments to attend, retain and attract users in the face of the emergence of virtual financial entities.
"Today, social networks are a powerful tool for permanent contact with customers, who nourish us with ideas to launch new products or services." They express their needs, suggest improvements, demand changes and adaptation to a world that is advancing by leaps and bounds. it forces us to be on permanent alert for continuous improvement, "says Paz.
"Of course, we also rely on more traditional tools, such as focus groups and research on global trends in the industry," adds the executive to iProUP.
From Santander Río highlight that all organizations should evolve with a "procliente" vision, since "today there is a great criticism to all companies that go behind the consumer when he has new needs," says Tenazinha.
This concept that begins to appear in Argentina already has a broad development in the world and is key for customers to choose to hire their bank.
While the tendency is for each location to be more automated, the paradigm change requires a plus in the quality of the service.
This "extra" can be clearly seen in entities from China, Paris, Madrid and London, where design prevails over traditional buildings and a wide variety of services replaces the waiting rooms.
It happens that the banks are no longer just competing with their peers, but they are rivaling the experiences that consumers have when they enter a trade in search of a certain product.
The most innovative case is that of China Construction Bank, an entity that is owned by the Chinese government and that opened a fully automated branch in Shanghai, where a robot welcomes users and answers all their questions.
This headquarters is equipped with facial recognition software, a virtual reality room, a hologram machine and touch screens to pay utility bills among other operations.
Examples like these speak of the search to transform boring environments into efficient, modern and technological branches that allow people the possibility of "experiencing" the possibility of being a client.
