Good.bee, a microfinance and
social entrepreneurship initiative of the Erste Foundation,
launched its first project in Romania last April with a mobile
banking service combined with a basic bank account and debit card.
In its first nine months, 15,000 customers have signed up for the
service, reports Douglas
Blakey.
Good.bee, a joint-venture comprising
the Erste Foundation and Erste’s Romanian subsidiary Banca
Comerciala Romana (BCR), has got off to a “satisfactory” start,
signing up 15,000 customers since its launch in April last
year.
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Developed jointly with South African-based
Wizzit, the successful mobile payments partner of pioneering
m-banking players such as Absa, and with the support of Visa,
Vodafone and Orange, good.bee was set up to target the 45 percent
of Romanians who live in rural areas underserved by the country’s
banking sector.
The service offers a basic bank account and
debit card – supplied by BCR – via a network of agents, designed to
appeal to the country’s estimated 8 million unbanked adults without
the need to visit a bank branch.
The service offers customers access to their
accounts from their mobile phone handsets, while agents can open
new accounts on the spot, also via the mobile channel.
While product information is on offer at BCR’s
branch network – the country’s biggest bank has assets of more than
€17 billion ($24 billion) and around 650 outlets – good.bee sales
take place away from the branch.
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By GlobalDataWith mobile phone SIM card penetration rates
of around 113 percent, Romania boasts more mobile phones than
people, a good indicator that mobile banking offers huge potential
in the country.
Customers signing up to good.bee receive a
starter pack costing RON26 ($9.13). Each pack contains everything
needed to open the account:
• A current bank account at BCR,
opened automatically;
• A debit card with PIN code;
• Registration to the mobile
transaction service. Users only need a mobile phone and an
identification card; and
• Customers can activate the mobile
and service straight away and receive all the information needed,
including a user manual.
RBI spoke to Sava Dalbokov, CEO of good.bee,
about the successful launch and progress to date.
RBI: Is the good.bee service
a first in the Romanian market?
SD: Mobile banking
services are offered by a number of banks in Romania, but as an
add-on or alternative channel for existing current accounts and
with varying functionalities.
RBI: How does good.bee differ
from existing m-banking services?
SD: The main
difference is that it uses mobile technology as the primary sales
and communication channel through which a bank account can be
offered to new clients and managed by them. The agent-based,
‘face-to-face’ sales approach of good.bee also provides prospective
clients with more comfort and support in testing the product and
discussing potential concerns.
The good.bee Mobile Transactions account also
offers the most comprehensive functionality on the Romanian market,
enabling clients to send money to other good.bee or third-party
accounts, obtain real-time information on their account balances
and transactions as well as top-up prepaid mobile phone cards. I
think the clear focus on using it as the main channel to access the
account will result in higher adoption rates.
RBI: Why launch now? What is
it about the current market conditions which prompted the
launch?
SD: In terms of
banking penetration levels and residential distribution, Romania is
a highly interesting market for banking services.
Good.bee’s main objective is to increase the
accessibility of financial services, especially in areas where
internet availability is limited such as Romania’s rural regions.
Therefore, the relatively low internet penetration in Romania –
around only 2 percent – has a positive implication for the market
take-up of good.bee.
These factors, combined with the
market-leading presence of the Erste Group through BCR, led to the
selection of Romania as the first market.
RBI: How would you rate
progress since the launch?
SD: In the first
nine months of its operations, good.bee Mobile Transactions signed
up some 15,000 clients.
This is a satisfactory achievement, in view of
the ‘pilot’ nature and focused marketing approach the company has
been following to date.
As the functionalities and customer knowledge
of the product develop, we expect continued accelerated growth in
client numbers and transactions carried out via the good.bee
platform.
The growing client base also leads to a
‘network’ effect as clients bring new customers to the platform,
recognising the comfort and efficiency of good.bee Mobile
Transactions.
RBI: Is there a plan to
expand the service beyond Romania to other Central and Eastern
European markets where Erste is strong?
SD: Currently the
operations are focused on Romania, in view of the specific
structure of this market.
Based on the experience in Romania, the
intention of good.bee is to introduce the service to other markets
with attractive potential, in due course.
RBI: What about an
extension of the product range?
SD: We are
introducing new functionalities continuously. We are also analysing
possibilities to offer other relevant financial products such as
savings accounts via the agency network.
