BBVA first in Spain to launch full account opening via mobile; ties up with Salesforce
Head of BBVA Spain Cristina de Parias
BBVA says it is the first financial institution in Spain to launch online onboarding via mobile, which allows anyone to open an account in “just a few minutes”.
A customer’s identity is verified through a selfie and a video call. Users can open an account at BBVA through their mobile phone by going to its website or downloading the BBVA app.
Head of BBVA Spain Cristina de Parias says: “We know our customers value their time and like to do everything through their cell phones.”
In terms of the new remote registration service, the bank can check to see that both images coincide through a face recognition process. In the last step, a BBVA representative verifies the new customer’s identity through a video call.
After complying with the legal requirements and a pilot phase, BBVA says it is now launching it on the market. New customers don’t have to pay any administration or maintenance fees for the account and they receive a debit card without an annual fee.
The bank has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Salesforce – “to strengthen its customer relationship management (CRM) strategy using Salesforce’s cloud computing services”. The agreement is part of a series of projects that BBVA is forging with specialist providers in its quest to become “a more flexible and scalable digital bank”. Last month it announced a global agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
BBVA is not the only Spanish bank keen on using biometrics for customer identification and verification. Cecabank, a wholesale bank that specialises in treasury, securities services and banking services, is rolling out the e-Biosignature initiative across its partner banks (Cecabank is largely owned by the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks – CECA – which accounts for 41% of the Spanish financial sector).
The project is done in partnership with the Autonomous University of Madrid (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, UAM) and its Biometric Recognition Group. Cecabank has a contract with UAM until 2021, with the Biometric Recognition Group providing support, maintenance and development of the solution.
It has so far been rolled out to 55,000+ pads at 15,000+ branches across Cecabank and CECA members. It supports over 600 million signed operations annually and has been used by 15 million customers. Click here for further details about the project.
