By Elena Baidakova
Regional Director, Russia and CIS
Nowadays we observe how many banks are going through metamorphosis towards high-tech companies with a banking license. Many banks started to apply the term “ecosystem” in their business vocabulary. Big actors are aiming to become serious competitors to one-stop tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Alibaba. At first, this approach was perceived ambiguously by participants in the banking sector. But now it is becoming quite obvious that the chosen strategy is valid and far-sighted. For example, Russian Sberbank ecosystem includes more than 20 companies which are not directly related to the traditional banking business.
One of the focal points for banks’ business development is mass transit. Firstly, it is an attractive sector with constant transaction traffic. Secondly, there are no customer acquisition costs. Thirdly, staying within one app gives incredible customer value by saving time, effort, and phone memory from switching between the apps. Lastly, bank by its nature has access to multiple payment tools and that is where the sweet spot is. Bank is capable of creating and using its own e-wallet as a form of payment for mobile tickets or top up of transport card. This allows for independent commission-free position from international payment systems and keeps the money inside the country.
At first banks were heading towards accommodating themselves in the ticketing niche by enabling contactless EMV payments followed by simple one-way ticket sale in their own mobile app. With the all-in-one ambitions appears the need to satisfy the demand for various transportation ticket types. However, bank resources and expertise in smart ticketing are limited. They have little or no development in this field, and neither do they own sophisticated ticketing backend. This is where companies like PayiQ step in to serve as experienced technological partner with deep ticketing acumen.
PayiQ fills in the missing piece of bank app by embedding its solid infrastructure of smart ticketing. PayiQ solution allows bank to sell multiple ticket categories such as day pass, best price ticket, multimodal fare, series of tickets and combo deals. PayiQ possesses an extensive expertise in partnering with third parties when it comes to technological integration and can quickly unroll smooth collaboration between financial entity and local transportation operator. In 2018 we launched the first mobile tickets for public transport in Finnish OP bank’s Pivo Wallet app (https://payiq.net/blog/payiqs-mobile-tickets-available-on-pivo-mobile-wallet/press-release/). We forecast similar stories to become trendy in the upcoming future when banks are trying to cover consumer’s everyday needs, be it food delivery, mobile phone payment, entertainment options or bus ticket.
