Digitalization for the benefit of clients: Ameriabank is the first in Armenia to create a complex of digital ecosystems
Ameriabank CEO Artak Hanesyan, Retail Banking Director Arman Barseghyan and Innovation and Digitalization Director Artem Shamtsyan spoke in detail about the digital agenda of the bank at a press conference on Thursday.
Ecosystem idea
Artak Hanesyan said that as part of a medium-term strategy, the bank's team have set several goals for themselves, such as maintaining leading positions in the Armenian banking market in terms of key financial indicators, ensuring and constantly improving the high level of customer service, as well as diversifying its portfolios.
“To achieve these goals, we have adopted the idea of digital transformation, within the framework of which we have been working on numerous digital solutions for about two years, which are improving the quality of customer service, providing them with comfortable and simple solutions,” he said.
The complex of digital ecosystems and solutions allows customers to receive online comfortable and fastest financing in all major areas, allowing them to go from opening an account to receiving a card and applying for financing in the online environment of the Ameria ecosystem.
This complex not only satisfies the financial needs of customers, but is also the first in Armenia to provide a convenient search for a comprehensive solution to the client's personal needs through digital targeting platforms.
According to Artem Shamtsyan, one of the important principles of the ecosystem is combining several processes at one site. “Services can be provided by different partners, but the experience of going all the way should be concentrated on one site,” he explained.
Second, as he noted, the system should be open for integration: digitally, partners should be able to easily integrate and present their service in this ecosystem.
“The third is a digital architecture that allows the system to have the potential for scale and growth,” Shamtsyan said.
Smart account service
A smart account is a bank account that can be opened online without visiting a bank. The client is provided free of charge with an international payment card Visa Classic or MasterCard Standard with free delivery, as well as an online banking system, through which the client can manage his accounts and execute available transactions 24/7.
According to Arman Barseghyan, during this year about 10 thousand clients have opened online accounts, more than 15 thousand clients have received online cards and more than 17 thousand clients have registered with Internet banking.
Ameria Business Platform / SME Ecosystem
“We have already launched the small and medium-sized businesses ecosystem. This is a fully digital lending program that allows clients to apply and receive loans in the amount of up to AMD 30 million in a matter of minutes without presenting documents and visiting a bank,” Hanesyan explained.
Ameria business platform can be used by both current clients of the bank and those entrepreneurs who want to start and develop their businesses with Ameriabank. The platform will continuously improve, offering new solutions for SMEs and providing a comprehensive ecosystem of business, financial and non-financial opportunities.
According to Barseghyan, the entire lending process (for relatively small loans) can be organized on this platform.
“In comparison with the beginning of the year, the business lending portfolio has grown now by more than 10%, amounting to 40 billion drams, and it is very important that about 10 billion drams are loans provided through this system,” he said.
On consumer loans provided to individuals, the retail banking director explained that during the current year Ameriabank has provided 15 thousand loans through this platform. “At the moment, 92% of consumer loans to individuals and 71% of their amount are provided through digital online systems,” he said.
Dealership offers on a single platform
Ameriabank has created a unified system -automarket.ameriabank.am - for a large network of car dealers. Having chosen a car and having familiarized themselves with the terms of lending, customers can immediately find out what amount of a loan they can get and then go to a car dealership.
“We will expand this program and in the near future client will get a loan without having to visit the dealer,” Hanesyan said.
Barseghyan, in his remarks, added that at the moment about 130 car models of about 30 brands from car dealers of the primary market are presented on the platform. “The goal is to bring the whole process online and, according to our plans, within the next few months it will become a reality,” he explained.
Opening online accounts
Ameriabank has created an online lending platform for individuals, which allows them to apply for financing without visiting a bank and receive a response to their application within 5 minutes.
Hanesyan explained that this service is designed for limited liability companies and individual entrepreneurs.
“We want to expand this platform too, adding new services, not only financial, in order to create opportunities for SMEs to use numerous services at one site,” Ameriabank CEO said.
Real estate ecosystem - offers from developers on one platform
The mortgage lending platform of the primary market -Estate.ameriabank.am - displays the offers of all developers cooperating with the bank. The site allows visitors to find real estate in accordance with the amount of monthly payments or the value of the property. This allows filtering properties by type, location, number of rooms and other criteria. Having chosen a house, the client can submit an online application, after which the bank will establish contact with the client and within one working day he/she will be presented with the credit terms. According to Barseghyan, the platform has now offers from more than 40 developers.
“During the year we have received more than 300 applications, and now the total mortgage portfolio of the bank exceeds 130 billion drams, which places us in a leading position in the market,” he stressed. According to Barseghyan, currently only preliminary approval of the loan is made on the site, and in the future mortgage loans will be provided to customers who will not have to visit a bank branch.
Installment lending
“Since the beginning of the year more than 20,000 loans worth 6.6 billion drams have been provided without the intervention of the bank's employees,” Barseghyan said.
He explained that installment lending includes not only loan provision, but also assessment of the applicant’s creditworthiness online. “This is a novelty, at least for Armenia, possibly for the region, since we are now using AI methods and mechanisms and automated learning, when creditworthiness is assessed through automated programs. Our more than two years of experience shows that these methods are much more effective in terms of both quality and volume than classical scoring models,” he said.
Online shopping platform
Ameriabank has also launched a platformthat presents goods of Armenian manufacturers. “Not every small business can afford to have its own online store, and we tried to find a solution so that our customers, without making significant investments, could have the same opportunities as large companies,” Barseghyan explained.
According to him, domestic manufacturers can have their own segment on this site, where they showcase their services and products, which is advisable according to many criteria.
“It is also convenient for customers who can find out information about the goods and make a choice at one site,” he said.
The retail banking director said also that at the moment there are more than 1,500 products on the site with free delivery within one day on average. Speaking about the advantages of this online platform, Barseghyan explained that its members should not pay a fee for joining it.
Student area
Barseghyan noted also that the bank has created a separate platform for students, seeking to satisfy their initial needs - having an account or a card that will allow them to form a credit history and take out educational loans under relatively good conditions.
"This is a relatively new portal that needs to be elaborated," he said, adding that over time more flexible mechanisms will be available and the decisive factor will be the student’s opportunities to repay the loan due to good academic achievements and future work, and not the creditworthiness of their parents.
Risks
“Digitalization is not an end in itself for us. The ultimate goal of digitalization is people, customers. And with this logic in mind, we are talking about creating an alternative for clients,” Barseghyan emphasized.
In this regard, he explained that digitalization does not provide for the mandatory closure of a branch; it can be closed when it becomes unnecessary.
“This is not happening in the context of our bank. On average, over the past three years, annually we attract 60-70 thousand new clients, and in these conditions we do not have to close branches; moreover, this year we have opened the fourth branch recently,” he said, adding that in a few weeks the fifth branch will be opened this year in the capital's administrative district of Malatia-Sebastia.
The retail banking director also noted that in the future, this pace will be pointless to maintain, and most of the transactions will be carried out in digital format. “Even today, 93% of all our transactions take place outside of our branches,” he said.
At the same time, Barseghyan said that the reality does not coincide at all with the opinions that with digitalization people are no longer needed and their role decreases.
“The reality is that today, in the context of the rapidly developing digitalization and automation, the role of a person is increasing. Today we have a lot of jobs that we are working hard to fill, so at this stage there is no tendency when technology reduces the role of the person,” he said.
Shamtsyan, in turn, added that it is cheaper for a bank to serve a client in a digital environment, because today the percentage of penetration of mobile phones is so high that it will be more convenient to solve all issues related to financial transactions online, therefore digital transformation is beneficial for both parties.
“The automation element has a by-product - people are freed from this work. But this is good: it means that there was a routine work that can be automated today,” he said, explaining that the bank, having experience in the banking industry, can retrain staff for a new job.
About Ameriabank
Ameriabank is one of the most dynamically developing banks in Armenia, and one of the most stable and largest financial institutions with a clearly formulated digital agenda. As a universal bank it provides corporate, investment and retail services in a comprehensive package of banking services. According to the latest results, Ameriabank is the largest bank in Armenia, with assets exceeding 1 trillion. drams. ($1 - 477.79 drams) -0-
