At this point, in the financial market nobody doubts about the process of digital transformation that the banking sector is experiencing, given the need to adapt rapidly to the new demands of the users and how this process is fully impacting the different entities:
- Private equity companies are committed to technological advancement not only to improve the experience of their users, but also to reduce costs and gain efficiency
- The public, who seek to adapt to the digital times that are running, see this process as the great opportunity to generate financial inclusionWithin this framework, continuing the constant innovation, a "heavyweight" as the Province Bank has just designed a new payment method, totally digital, with which it aims to democratize access to financial services and, at the same time, fight to fintech. In addition, it works to reinforce omnichannel and the use of artificial intelligence to microsegment its offers to each client.
"The central idea is that a public bank is efficient, and that with digital advancement it provides a better experience to its customers at a lower cost. It is the best way to generate inclusion and make life easier for people," explains Gonzalo Diz , deputy general manager of the Business Development Area of Banco Provincia who - together with Luis Regueira y Piñeiro, manager of Digital Transformation and Innovation of the entity - received iProUP in the central house of the firm in the Buenos Aires downtown.
"For me, inclusion is the raison d'être of a public bank. And when I say inclusion, I speak not only of the socio-economic aspect. You have to think that older adults or some SMEs are players who find it very difficult to handle the system today traditional financial. In this aspect it is what we have been working on ", he completes.
For Diz, it is key to channel innovation and digital transformation towards the entity's global strategy and thus bring the financial system closer to a greater part of society.Transformation and Inclusion"As inclusion is a founding pillar of the bank, we are making rapid progress in everything related to a comprehensive solution, to reach the citizens of the province," said the executive. Today BAPRO has about 4.5 million customers and the province of Buenos Aires has more than 17 million inhabitants.
"We have already finished and a fully digital solution that will enhance the efficiency and experience of each client is about to be launched," says Diz, referring to "DNI Account", the new product that will reach the market by the hand of the second most public bank Big country.
At his side, Luis Regueira and Piñeiro, lists the four pillars on which the Banco Provincia digital strategy is based:
- Digital optimization and data generation
- The omnichannel and the concept of open bank or open bank
- The generation of a value proposition for digital customers
- Microsegmentation and hyperpersonalization of the offer
"Based on this we have several projects. The most important has to do with onboarding, which allows you to open a 100% digital account with a selfie just by scanning the front and back of the DNI", provides Regueira and Piñeiro. Once the data is corroborated, the cell phone becomes a virtual wallet, with which you can pay through a token number, barcode or QR code, depending on the merchant."With this solution, Banco Provincia will bring a new payment method, which will be Mastercard, Visa and this new medium that we are going to launch," adds Diz. For the manager of the BAPRO Business Development Area, "the world is turning towards QR and the impact in Argentina will also be strong."
The numbers analyzed in the BAPRO indicate that while only 50% of the population is banked, there is 80% with Internet access.Artificial intelligence, what's coming
With regard to artificial intelligence, in the Province they are with several prototypes. This technology is used in part of the digital onboarding process, such as the capture of the DNI. "There is intelligence on the part of the app to check that there is a DNI in front of you and nothing else," explains Regueira and Piñeiro.
"With facial biometrics - Regueira and Piñeiro adds - we also add some artificial intelligence patterns to determine if that person who is in front of the screen is alive and is not a video, to avoid future fraud." In addition, Bapro are also working on virtual advisory projects, to add innovation.
Beside him, Diz points out that there is still a lot to do in this field and he has no doubts in pointing out: "The use of artificial intelligence will be an increasingly key issue for growth." And that is why the Province has been working with one of the most important companies in the market for this type of development.
"Artificial intelligence (AI) opens the doors to millions of things," says Regueira and Piñeiro. "The uses are endless and I think that, combined with everything that is biometrics, it opens a giant paradise facing not only the physical world but also the virtual world," he says.
To enhance its use, Bapro has a key card listed as the gold of the future: the data. "We were fortunate to acquire a data warehouse more than 10 years ago with a significant investment and today it is mature. Now, we will begin to use that information to provide personalized attention," says Diz.
Province executives know that biometrics or facial recognition will grow exponentially. "Even the approvals of several transactions will be done biometrically," says Diz, adding: "Some countries opt for the use of the finger, others with the facial, but clearly the world is going there."Maximum expression customization
For Regueira and Piñeiro, in the financial system biometric patterns may be used at branches or at ATMs."When we want to make very exclusive offers or determine which client is in each branch, we can arrive at that precise moment and be part of the omnichannel experience, which begins in the digital world and continues to be in the physical world," graphs the Transformation manager Digital and Innovation of Bapro.
This hyperpersonalization of the client, which is carried out with artificial intelligence to determine specific consumption patterns, is just one of the four edges of the bank's strategy.
"We have the possibility of offering push notifications, of text, of video, which allows us to have microsegmented all this flow of customers to send specific offers to each one based on their purchasing patterns," explains Regueira and Piñeiro.
Likewise, the two executives agree that it is too premature to think that Bapro offers products such as virtual currencies, partly because of the regulation, which does not yet give that option, and also because of the strong volatility that this type of asset has been showing.
"We are going to see how Libra (the cryptocurrency of Facebook) ends up being accommodated between the US Treasury forces and large technology companies," says Diz.
"The world is going towards the blockchain, it is to socialize the security of the system. The blockchain allows us to do a lot of things and we are using it in what it has to do with payment methods," says Diz and adds that the idea is to climb on The blockchain channel is the new solution that is about to be launched."What the world of virtual currencies left us teaching is all that is behind it, which is the blockchain, the way in which data is recorded, how this data is used and how a data cannot be repeated in no other aspect, "says Regueira and Piñeiro.
In that sense, they are also currently planning the use of the blockchain platform for projects among which one of money orders and remittances stands out. As for the open banking model, another of the pillars of the digital strategy, the Province is working for an API.
"What allows is to enhance all the digital properties of third parties, development of third parties, making an open platform", explains Regueira and Piñeiro.
That, he adds, accelerates the transformation as there are more people developing on the bank's platform and, among other things, greatly improves innovation programs for third parties. The idea is to launch this portal API within this year.
When imagining a bank branch in the coming years, Diz considers that as part of the innovation process, in five years the entity will have a much more advisory and not so much transactional role.In relation to the increasingly exposed battle between banks and fintech, the manager agrees with the claim of many bankers that the regulation has to be the same for all those who work in the financial system, but asks not to remain in criticism.
"We have to move forward and look for solutions, because solutions and digital innovation impact transaction costs tending to zero," says the executive, who believes that in the future, in the world "there will be no commissions or they will tend to zero ".
"One can claim regulation but on the other hand work hard to give those solutions that fintech are providing today," says Diz, and insists on the key role of a public entity in financial inclusion.
"That is our DNA, generate inclusion and make life easier for people," says the manager, and ironizes with a sector that now faces banks: "Maybe the slogan of fintech is our DNA."