Banks are in the laborious and necessary task of moving forward on a key issue: digital transformation.
Sooner rather than later, they will have to adapt to the new competition posed by fintech, which promises more agile and convenient services to new generations.
However, traditional banking knows that it has two differentials over its digital counterparts, and they do not hesitate to exploit them: a brand with a history and a significant user base.In this sense, several entities have already launched a new type of branch in the country that combines the experience of a digital bank without ATMs with a trend of the new economy: coworking spaces.
The last one to join this strategy in Argentina is Santander Río, who will announce his first Work Café to the press on Monday.
It is an "experiment" that emerged in the Chilean subsidiary and grew in the trans-Andean country to account for about thirty stores, under the slogan of being much more efficient than conventional. Moreover, since a month ago he has his Brazilian chapter in Rio de Janeiro.
Of course it also had an echo in Spain, the company's headquarters, where the initiative was such a success that in that nation they plan to surpass 100 such spaces.The details, the benefits
Regarding the incursion into Argentina, as iProUP may have known, Santander Río will open this space on Avenida Santa Fe 1634, its Recoleta branch.
Who will provide the cafeteria? Nothing less than Café Martínez, after both companies sealed a strategic agreement.
Such is the case that it will be the first of a dozen of these types of spaces that the entity plans to open in the coming months in the country.
It is a digital office, so that customers can perform operations as in any other place but in extended hours: working days, from 8 to 20, from December 18.
The following image illustrates this first step of Santander, which anticipates the prelude to what will come in 2019: the presentation in society of its Fintech or digital banking.
As iProUP could know:1.- It will not have windows to withdraw or deposit money: the operations will be carried out directly from self-service terminals or ATMs
2.- Regarding the possibilities of extracting money, the established limit will be $ 50,000, ten times higher than that of conventional banks.
3.- The first "work coffee" of Santander -in partnership with Café Martínez-, will have a handful of employees. Specifically, account executives who will guide users about the products of the entity.
4.- The new branch will allow different requests to be processed via videoconference, such as opening a savings account or taking the debit card on the same day.
5.- It will be a coworking with traditional services, such as the possibility of using the room for meetings or training, which will be free with prior reservation. However, Café Martínez products will be paid.6.- Santander customers will have access to a 30% discount on the cafeteria service, while the members of the SuperCuenta loyalty program can redeem 2,500 points to obtain 50% savings "at the Work Cafe adhered premises".
"A place to develop an idea, build your network of contacts and, why not, have a good coffee", indicate from Santander, showing the reason for this new initiative: take advantage of the benefits of coworking, a place that young people use professionals and startups, two profiles of clients who might be attracted to the new digital banks.
In tune with this audience, Santander Río will organize a series of talks with entrepreneurs and a web community to improve networking among its users.
In addition, in the last hours, a contractor of the entity showed images of the interior of the premises in his Facebook account and announced that the next branch will be opened in Córdoba:
Upward trend
As iProUP has already shown, Santander Río is not the only entity that bets on this model with an emphasis on "multichannel", with an online digital platform, contact center (with personal and bots advice) and a physical network of branches.
"We want to change traditional banks, where we can get closer to the client and that he can count on the advice of a bank official," says Diego Baccini, manager of the branch network of Galicia, who in October joined the initiative.For this, he joined the Starbucks chain to open his Coffee Banking at the Las Heras and Billingurst coffee shop in the Recoleta neighborhood.
The BIND also chose the US chain to offer the service in its central house, located in San Martín 268, in the heart of the City of Buenos Aires.
"We seek to offer an excellent service for our current and potential clients, by incorporating a cafeteria in the branch, we provide greater proximity and convenience," explains Karina Yankillevic, BIND's private banking manager, to iProUP.
In public banking, Banco Nación was a pioneer when it inaugurated its digital branch Borges 1660 this year, near Plaza Serrano, in Palermo "Soho".
With an innovative design, this new headquarters is committed to a more relaxed attention, similar to those of its rivals: it has ATMs, telephone banking, Wi-Fi, tablets and computers for customers to operate from the app.
"We understand that Plaza Serrano is an excellent location to offer this type of products, different from those of traditional banking, to be located in a gastronomic area and walk where it is," he explained during the presentation of the headquarters the owner of the Nation, Javier González Fraga.
The idea is to offer comfort to customers, but fundamentally, to attract the millennial public that has a symbiotic relationship with their cell phones, a device that can not be used in a traditional bank branch. And bet on freelancer and entrepreneurs, who may require the services offered by the entities."We are going through a transformation, in which the physical network is based on advice for complex and instructive procedures to operate in the digital world, it works as a bridge, where we are already thinking about the possibility of converting traditional branches into more flexible models. ", explains the Bind executive.More transformation
In this process to adapt to new technologies, banks are joining new trends to offer more innovative services.
Thus, they started offering the possibility of biometric identification in their mobile applications.
That is, users of some entities can use facial recognition or fingerprint reader to enter your mobile banking more quickly, by not typing passwords, but also much more secure.
"The user and password entry in most platforms is usually one of the most problematic security requirements for clients," Milagro Medrano, Institutional Relations and Customer Service Manager of Banco Macro, told iProUP.
For his part, Marcelo Abella, manager of commercial planning and electronic channels Supervielle, another of the entities that implemented biometrics, said: "Our goal is to streamline customer operations and improve the experience in the model of care, mitigating fraud from its univocal identification ".The new digital banks also bet on these techniques. "We use biometrics to verify and verify that who is doing the registration process is the same person as the owner", says in dialogue with iProUP Juan Ozcoidi, CEO of WiloBank.
The new forms of identification were not only in the apps, but extended to ATMs where, progressively, the password or PIN is left behind.
"There are Link member banks that implemented this system for their retirees and pensioners, and in other cases, they are already using it for all clients," Jorge Larravide, Commercial Manager of the company, tells iProUP.
From Prisma, owner of Banelco, they affirm that they are working hard in the incorporation of these new equipment.
"In the next month we will have a biometric engine that will allow the use of this technology, both in ATMs and in other channels," explains Valeria Melchior, Manager of Processing Products of the company, to iProUP.
Among those that are already in full implementation is Supervielle Bank for delivery of receipts, PIN laundering, notification of date of collection and balance inquiries and latest movements of accounts and credit card, among others.Banco Galicia has also been working on this matter, which applies biometrics to both its ATMs and its self-service centers. And it goes one step further: it is testing a team that is self-sufficient in money.
While ICBC assures iProUP that it is advancing in mixed technologies, combining the identification of face with the cell phone. "For example, you enter your facial recognition through a mobile phone and, bringing it closer to the cashier, will enable you for transactions," they point out from the company.
All these advances show the certainty that banks have in this digital era full of changes: the customer has to operate faster, easier and from anywhere. Cafecito by means