BanCoppel is one of the banks with the most branches in the country, with just over 1,200, only below Banco Azteca, which has almost 2,000, and BBVA with around 1,700. However, it wants to be more digital to serve other segments, but without neglecting the physical part.
Mónica Martínez, director of Marketing, customer management and business intelligence at BanCoppel, explains that for this purpose, this bank-store, which is turning 15 years old, is making very important investments in technology.
“We are going to see a much more digital bank. The investment in technology that the group is making is very important, we are reinforcing all the technology part. We are going to be a much more digital bank, and get to serve other customers who don’t necessarily go to a bank branch or a Coppel store physically,” he says.
In an interview, he clarifies that they are not going to stop attending the physical part for that reason. “We will always attend to the physical part, because it is very important to us, but we want to become a bank with a much more digital option.”
Proof of this, he comments, is that today its mobile application already has 4 million users, and 97% of transfers through the Interbank Electronic Payment System (SPEI) are made through this channel.
“This tells you that the client has already learned to use the application to transfer money to someone, inside or outside BanCoppel. There is also CoDi within the app,” she notes.
He adds: “it is a simple application, easy to use, easy to download, and what we have seen is that every time customers use it, they lose their fear and begin to check their balance, do a SPEI, pay for their services and little by little more transactions begin to be made”.
Likewise, it mentions that BanCoppel has the option of the Clic Account, which can be opened in a simple way from the application itself. “With one click you open your account and you already have your debit card that is accepted everywhere, and you don’t necessarily have to go to the bank.”
However, he emphasizes that if the client wants to go to the bank, he has the option of physical branches. “But we want to become a much more digital bank, to be able to serve this new segment of the population that is much more digital.”
Complementary things can be done with fintech
BanCoppel’s board argues that the foregoing is part of the bank’s strategy to compete in a market in which there are more and more fintech companies, which, however, it sees as a complement.
“I really like that challenge that banks have been given to innovate, to change and so on. We can do complementary things. Fintechs are more vertical, we are much more transversal, we can offer many more things than what a fintech does. I think that what banks and fintech companies have to do is complement each other in certain things, and start making alliances.