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Special 50th anniversary
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05. A different way of banking 24
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At the start of the 90s, Bankinter implemented new ways of banking that today are still innovative. In 1993, the bank created its first virtual offices, which are now known as Bankinter Partnet, through collaboration agreements with companies, associations and professional associations. The Agent Network was also launched.

Telephone Banking, a pioneering service



Telephone Banking has, undoubtedly, been one of the cornerstones of Bankinter's success in its first fifty years. It was first launched in 1992, after several months of arduous testing, with the dual purpose of improving customer service and reducing the cost of routine transactions. Apart from depositing and withdrawing cash, it enabled customers to do almost exactly the same as in a branch. At that time, no other bank offered such a broad range of services.

One of the secrets of this telephone banking system, initially known as BKtel, is that it was not envisioned as merely a customer service hotline, but instead, a true distribution channel for the whole range of Bankinter products, including investment funds and asset operations. So much so that, just a year after its launch, it already accounted for 58% of total transfers between individuals and 28% of stock market orders undertaken through the bank.

Nonetheless, the beginnings were difficult. Veterans of the entity recount that it was difficult to get customers to call, until they realised that Telephone Banking was both easy and comfortable. In fact, satisfaction questionnaires given in 1992 already showed fairly positive results. Since then the users have been surveyed each year and they continue to respond very well.

This favourable reception is a direct consequence of the constant focus on quality that is instilled into the Telephone Banking managers from day one. It has resulted in quality advisers, as well as a system for centralised incident resolution that immediately detects and remedies faults.

Thanks to all this, Bankinter's Telephone Banking staff is conscious of its customers' needs as well as being highly qualified. Managers are gathered into teams specialised in areas including insurance, funds, the stock market, customer services for companies, and international business. The people are very well prepared, they are the foundations of the bank, and practically all departments have personnel that came from Telephone Banking.

An undoubtable landmark was the launch, in 1993, of Telephone Depositing, which attracted substantial funds and thousands of customers from geographical areas where the company had no branches, in exchange for offering a very competitive return. Every time the television advert about the deposit was screened, the telephone lines became overloaded and they had to work day and night, included weekends. Around six million calls were handled annually. It was hard, but it demonstrated that you could do banking on the phone.

Today, telephone transactions are an essential alternative to face-to-face service as well as that which is provided via the internet, not only for banking but also many other sectors. Within this field, the largest growth is currently being seen in videocalls, which offer greater proximity, allowing customers to see the face of the employees at all times. Some employees continually feel the satisfaction of solving problems from a distance.

Partnet Banking: more than customers, partners


In 1993, Bankinter created its first virtual offices, through collaboration agreements with companies, associations and professional associations. The purpose of those offices was to expose financial products and services to the employees, clients and suppliers of these entities and, although they lacked a physical structure, they were accounting centres recognised in all respects by the Banco de España.

In that period, and representing an enormous innovation, this idea started out under the name Specialised Banking and then, from 2000, became known as Virtual Banking, because it put at the disposal of companies an intranet through which they could make all types of enquiries. In 2012, it was rechristened Bankinter Partnet, fusing the words partner and network. By that time there were already 360 branches of this type in companies from all sectors, with more than 38,000 customers, and making a contribution of 9.17% to the bank's pre-tax profits.

This spectacular, successful deployment was made possible thanks to the development and to broad experience acquired by Bankinter in distance-service channels, such as Electronic Banking that was set up in 1985; Telephone Banking, in 1992, and Internet Banking in 1996.

The virtual offices are managed jointly by the bank and the partner: the first provides the capital, the financial technology, and products under preferred conditions, whereas the partner provides access to companies and individuals with which it usually associates. Each office generates a profit and loss account and the net profit is shared with the partner. In this way, both parties win and Bankinter can offer tailor-made banking that delivers above-average quality indices.

The financial products and services that are offered through Bankinter Partnet involve advantages with respect to those available in traditional branches; among other things, because the prices are defined specifically for the associated group. That does not prevent the customer operating with the bank via any of its other channels: telephone, internet, mobile phone and, of course, physical branches. All of this makes it an innovative model that is still unique on the Spanish financial scene, despite its characteristic strong level of competitiveness. A model that undoubtedly marks a before and after in the way of doing banking in our country.

From a conviction in its potential for development, Bankinter decided to relaunch this activity in 2012, coinciding with its renaming. This gave a huge strategic boost to a very profitable business, focused on customers with a medium-high socioeconomic profile and in which the bank has high hopes for growth. Not surprisingly, the most important domestic and international companies in Spain have already joined up with Bankinter Partnet, with collaboration agreements that are yet to yield their best results.

Proximity to the customer, key in the Agent Network


More than 500 agents make up this network of independent professionals which supports Bankinter to reach places its branches do not. This network started to come together in 1992, with the intention of attracting partners to help the bank grow, distributing its products and services. The looked-for profile was someone with their own office, a certain experience in banking, a portfolio of loyal clients and generally located in areas where Bankinter was not present.

They were expected to give advice to individuals with a reasonable level of financial literacy, employing total information transparency and providing the best quality service possible. Bankinter contributed the strength of its brand, innovative products, the added value of technology, continuous training and the possibility of sharing the business generated.

The initial stages were hard, for two main reasons. Firstly, because at that time the figure of the agent had not been regulated in Spain. And, secondly, because it was complicated to explain to someone that a random unit of a housing block contained a branch of Bankinter. Today, however, the Network of Agents is one of the distinguishing features as well as being a cornerstone of the bank.

Agents generally come from the field of fiscal and financial advice, and are therefore equipped to freely advise their clients, earn their esteem and, more importantly, their trust. The agents have access to commercial computer and management tools and a broad portfolio of very competitive products.

In addition, whenever appropriate, they can adapt these products to the specific needs of each client, which helps generate a stable portfolio that complements the agents' activity and through which, month by month, they receive the corresponding profits, in a steady and recurrent manner.

The turning point for this network came about in 2013, when Bankinter redefined the business, refocusing it on the private banking sector, through greater resources, more demanding agent selection, increased training of the teams, and certain products envisaged specially for individuals with high net worth. The reason was simple: these clients place a lot of value on customised treatment and independent advice, which are exactly the principles underpinning a model based on proximity, careful training, and professional integrity.

A model in which trust is key, the raw material on which the banking business has always been articulated and which, in recent years, due to the economic crisis and certain cases of malpractice in the sector, has been seriously tested. Therefore Bankinter has a great deal of hope invested in its Agent Network, which can contribute decisively to expanding the bank's strengths and increasing their visibility even more in comparison with the other entities within the framework of the demanding European Banking Union.

1976. View of various Bankinter branches.


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