Poland’s mobile banking sector is dynamic and ambitious, and embracing the full potential of Open Banking opens doors to more innovative solutions. Wojciech Zatorski, COO of Braintri and creator of Biffee, speaks to Briony Richter about the products and services that are transforming the industry.
With more consumers turning to digital channels, financial operations are becoming far more digitally focused. This revolutionary shift has led to the growth of fintechs. Braintri was formed in 2013, and specialises in mobile applications, payments and Big Data.
Go deeper with GlobalData
In September, it was awarded the 2018 Polish Innovation Award for Jiffee, a mobile payment and loyalty technology that is also Bluetooth-based.
Mobile apps
Braintri has been significantly involved in the development of mobile apps for the largest banks in Poland.
Speaking about the award, Zatorski says: “We have been involved in a lot of innovative projects with our customers, and that has advanced developments within the Polish sector. We also won ‘Best of Show’ at Finovate New York in 2017.”
Braintri has held a pivotal role as part of the team developing PKO Bank Polski’s IKO mobile banking app.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataZatorski explains: “In 2013 we had been asked by the bank to help in the process of transforming a bank’s mobile wallet token-based transactions service that has been used primarily for quick ATM withdraws, in a limited number of POS and into the Polish mobile payment scheme.
“The idea was to start the scheme with the critical mass of users and large-enough acceptance network. Initial conversations with the banks led to creating a joint venture of the six largest Polish banks, which together had around 70% of Polish banked customers.”
The banks involved were Alior Bank, Bank Millennium, Bank Zachodni WBK, BRE Bank, ING Bank and PKO Bank Polski, and the joint venture had the goal of building a common standard for mobile payments.
Polish consumers
Zatorski says Polish consumers adapted to digitisation very quickly.
“Both the banking industry and customers across Poland have moved quickly from standard traditional branches to internet banking to mobile,” he notes.
“Consumers are very receptive to all the new features that are delivered; for example, in the first week of Apple Pay launching in Poland there were 200,000 activations.”
He adds that in the fast-paced market, cheques are almost non-existent. According to GlobalData research, levels of awareness and holding of mobile wallets are slowly rising among Polish consumers – a trend that should become more significant as smartphone penetration increases.
By 2021, smartphone penetration is expected to reach 70% of Poland’s adult population.
Open Banking
Zatorski believes that, in many ways, banks and financial organisations in Poland are better equipped and more motivated to implement the PSD2 regulation than their European neighbours.
Braintri is working alongside KIR, the national clearing house that provides solutions to meet the needs of the banking and payments sectors.
Commenting on the Open Banking transformation, Zatorski says: “I’m very proud of the work we have done. Poland is going to have a single standard for Open Banking – the PolishAPI.”
The PolishAPI standard is the critical part of implementing Open Banking in the Polish financial sector, providing a single platform to enable third parties to access payment accounts and offer tailored services.
Embracing all the opportunities of Open Banking will give banks and financial institutions the ability to be at the forefront of this financial revolution, and Braintri has two products that aim to do just that.
One is the Jiffee payment solution, which enables customers to pay through any Android or iOS phone, and also allows merchants to include loyalty programmes. This has created a frictionless app that can help target customer behaviour and communication at any time.
The unique aspect of Jiffee lies with its Bluetooth functionality. Using Jiffee, merchants can plug an adapter into older cash registers or POS terminals, allowing them to accept wireless payments.
The other product is Biffee, which was created by Zatorski. Many banks are struggling to utilise the full potential of Open Banking, and a lot of the problems stem from outdated legacy systems.
This is where Biffee comes in; but how does it tackle that problem?
Zatorski explains: “Biffee is our data offloading engine. The platform takes all customer data from the core banking system. It then goes into advanced analytics and starts gathering more data on customer behaviour.
“You also get additional benefits: for example, the process has lower IT costs. It is fully operational and ready for commercialisation.”
Poland is one of Europe’s most innovative markets, with a consumer base that welcomes new technology that makes their financial lives easier.
The ability to leverage Big Data is becoming more important, and banks will need to address this to thrive in an Open Banking environment.
