Vipera Plc (LON:VIP) Chief Executive Officer Marco Casartelli caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss ICCREA; who they are, their new mobile app and the outlook for the company
Q1: You’ve just put some news out that a customer of yours, ICCREA Banking Group, have launched a new mobile application. Firstly, could you tell us who ICCREA are?
A1: ICCREA is an Italian group of corporate banks serving 6 million customers in Italy and the group is governed by ICCREA Holding who is our customer. ICCREA Holding delivers products and services to the banks and their clients at corporate and retail.
Q2: Can you explain to us what the deal with ICCREA is all about?
A2: ICCREA wanted to reach and expand the use of credit cards and support the adoption of a new digital payment technology. Together we can achieve, Vipera has designed and developed a new credit card application which provides customers with a range of functions and services accessible on their smartphone. Features include real-time alerts on cash transactions, the ability to control where and how the credit cards are used, the categorisation of expenses to know exactly where money goes. Another interesting feature that we launched today is a new loyalty program ‘PremiaTi’ which we will provide the bank’s customers with a range of targeted exclusive offers.
Q3: What was the need for the new app and how have Vipera and KPMG addressed that need?
A3: For many banks, the need to address the fast-growing digital payment economy industry and the need of increasing the option of card on one side so to attract new users but also to increase the user to offer the existing card so by developing and providing the value added services to the users, we are basically putting a substantial benefit on top of the plastic and the loyalty and customer engaging programs is rewarding the use of the plastic and the traffic on it.
Q4: What can you tell me about the outlook of ICCREA?
A4: ICCREA, as I said, has about 6 million customers, they have around 700,000 credit cards so the initial target, at least for Vipera Plc and KPMG, for this specific service, is the 700,000 cards. In reality, the Motif platform which is our technology which sits underneath this service can effectively present and provide a number of additional features and services which would probably be used across the 6 million customers of the banks. Therefore, this is a significant opportunity to expand the offering in their direction. The collaboration with KPMG is another proof of the benefit for Vipera working with channel partners, KPMG has the customers and Vipera has the product and so we also collaborate on making real services and products in the market specifically for loyalty programs, it’s the right combination because we have the technology and the platform for loyalty whereas KPMG is dealing with all the design of the loyalty program itself as well as the engagement of merchants.
