Luca Vanetti (Banco Bpm): “Online business is more sustainable”

“The banking sector it has experienced a more progressive change than other areas of the economy and our lives. The acceleration of the digital transition, which had already begun several years earlier, due to the pandemic, made it possible to test over time the repercussions and any problems on which it was appropriate to specialize quickly”. Luca Vanettimarketing and omnichannel manager of Bpm benchframes the digitalization process among credit institutions, grappling with the new opportunities opened up by the evolution of technology and competition from new operators. Characterized by different profiles: the fintech that leverage technology to offer new services in the financial field; the challenger bank, digital natives who focus on specialization, offering only some of the banking services. Finally, the foreign operatorswho have focused on the brand and global roots to make their way here too.

The last five years have radically changed the characteristics of the offer. The number of branches has dropped significantly because digital allows a series of functions to be carried out remotely, thus making users’ lives easier. In parallel there was an intense m&a activities dictated by the fact that digital transformation requires significant economies of scale to sustain huge investments over time. “There digitalisation it is also having clear impacts in terms of sustainabilitythanks to document dematerialisation processes and the diffusion of tools that allow you to operate remotely, substantially reducing the carbon dioxide emissions associated with physical travel”, adds the expert.

Banco Bpm has focused on a digital transformation with a omnichannel approach which was pursued with the spirit of a ‘startup’ resulting from the merger of banks with more than 150 years of history. “We acted immediately to involve all areas of business and operations in the transformation process, without referring it to specific digital units that exist in the group such as Webank, one of the ‘oldest’ Italian digital banks which is about to celebrate 25 years since launch”, highlights Vanetti. He recalls that the operational plans were built with the aim of creating an increasingly customer-centric bank, capable of listening to their needs, aware of the behavior and habits of individual users; thanks to’data usage and gods analytics; capable of integrating technologies and human touch.

“To date, 85% of retail customer transactions are carried out remotely, a significant increase compared to previous years, while the number of transactions carried out via App, therefore via smartphone, has exceeded those carried out in the entire network of over 1,300 branches “With the aim of enhancing the remote commercial approach and keeping the manager-customer relationship a priority, a video collaboration solution has recently been introduced for the group’s private customers which is integrated into the banking app in order to guarantee continuity of communication. “The effective use of data and the development of advanced models, even with machine learning techniques (software capable of learning by itself, ed.), allow you to personalize the content of communications”, says the manager.

The artificial intelligence solutions will also be applied to the service of smart lending, with the extension of the types of financing that can be subscribed to remotely and digitally, for example those relating to the SME guarantee fund. “An aspect, the latter, which goes hand in hand with the group’s industrial plan which indicates that companies are one of the main lines of business development”.

As for the prospects, Vanetti believes that “the ability of the large commercial banks to combine the professionalism of their networks of managers and the historic transversality of their business model with thecustomer experience excellence and the typical vertical specialization of the players fintechalso through partnerships And integration of services”. In the new three-year plan presented last December, the third largest Italian banking group has outlined a path that aims to modernize the overall operating model, aligning the digital infrastructure with market best practices to promptly respond to customer needs, while confirming the centrality of network professionals and their proximity to the territory. “The main targets for 2026 aim to increase the share of fully remote sales from 17% to 30% and to increase the level of cross selling and commercial activation of customers with predominantly digital behaviours”. Among the set targets, the ability to grow the share of customers acquired online also through a further push in terms of communication for WeBank, “whose offer will also extend to remote financial consultancy, and which will confirm itself as a predominantly acquisition engine for digital customers”.