Financial Services

The bank you keep on loving

Air Bank claimed first place in Financial Services and in the entire ranking once again, becoming a four-time winner over the last five years. Its repeated success confirms the bank as a leader and also shows that offering simple online solutions that cover the majority of client needs is the way to go. Established as the sector’s leader, Air Bank improved its score in four out of six pillars, with a slight drop in the remaining two (integrity and empathy). And despite losing a few points in loyalty and perceived price-to-value ratio, the bank still beat the rest of the sector in every metric.

Air Bank’s popularity is based on a fully digital approach that keeps improving. Customers love how clearly the bank communicates, praising the simple, easy-to-use app that allows them to take care of all their banking needs. Friendly branch customer service is also met with enthusiasm. The only real negative feature most clients mention is the fact that there are not enough branches, just like with Fio banka. A small network of ATMs used to be an issue as well, but the bank managed to resolve that by introducing shared ATMs.

Click of a button and a well-timed handshake

Clients are now used to taking care of routine tasks online and are happy to use online banking to handle wire transfers, loans, insurance, and much more.

However, you need a unique service to win new clients and keep them – something Česká spořitelna knows well, demonstrated by the success of its programme focused on client financial health. How does it work? A consultant regularly evaluates each client's financial situation and helps them find the best solutions for their investments, savings, or loans.

Česká spořitelna has also been tirelessly working on their new app, George, for the past few years. In late 2022, they introduced an option to verify tasks inside the app, without needing a stand-alone key. The app also allows clients to set up a wide array of products: you can buy stock or bonds in the investment section or use a financial coach or a digital financial health assistant to get help with savings or even green housing government support.

Bringing digitalization and in-person advice together proved to be a great strategy. Though customers were not too happy about some smaller-city branches closing down, they still respond well to the marketing communications of Česká spořitelna, both online and offline.

In general, the bank has improved its personalization, expectations, empathy, and resolution scores. Its empathy score has been growing steadily in recent years, gaining more points again this year. The bank’s total CEE score has also improved. Slowly but steadily, Česká spořitelna is establishing itself as one of the sector’s top players, perhaps blazing a trail that will gradually erase differences between “digital” and “traditional” banks.

Those dudes from those ads

The example and the approach of both Air Bank and Česká spořitelna shows that financial institutions shouldn’t get complacent with their online services. In line with this principle, Fio banka, who came in second again, is also continuously improving its internet and mobile banking apps. Despite losing points in several pillars, it managed to keep the CEE total in line with last year's results thanks to a big improvement in personalization, achieved with the help of a personal approach shown by in-branch personnel or the possibility to personalize one’s mobile app and internet banking. Customers also love the bank’s easy-to-use investment portal that opens up investment opportunities to both beginners and experienced investors.

Last year, Fio banka focused on building a friendly image with its ad campaign featuring a popular actor Štěpán Kozub, and a new slogan “For all your worldly pleasures”, loosely following in the footsteps of Air Bank, who can now be considered a trail-blazer in more relaxed communication, breaking up the stereotypical image of banks being rigid and inflexible. After all, a fun, memorable campaign can be enough to win a customer.

And speaking about friendly campaigns, Kooperativa definitely deserves an honourable mention, making the biggest leap across the ladder to claim the sixth spot within the sector and becoming number one among non-banking financial institutions. It’s among the few companies that managed to improve in all pillars, with the exception of expectations. Just like banks, Kooperativa decided to go with a simple, intuitive website design with big tiles that will lead you where you need to go.

Smart solutions

Artificial intelligence can sort and process large amounts of documents – something that employees had to do by hand until now. It can analyse text, pictures, and videos – which are often used in insurance event documentation.

Virtual assistants are commonplace in banks now, though the Czech ones still have a lot to learn. However, Bank of America’s Erica assistant offers a glimpse of their potential, answering up to hundreds of millions of queries every day and providing clients with insights about advanced issues like investment portfolio performance.

Fool AI? Not even once

Like many others, the financial sector can, too, profit from AI’s capability to identify and minimize suspicious activity. At KPMG Lighthouse, we’ve developed an app that can assess an insured event and evaluate the probability of fraud – an app that is now used by KB Pojišťovna. In a split second, the app analyses events and forwards those with the highest fraud probability to a fraud manager, helping automate mundane tasks and uncover new ways perpetrators work.