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Banco BPI aims to automate 100 percent of teller transactions in 2019

Lisbon, Portugal-based Banco BPI has revamped its branches with a focus on self-service. BPI believes that automating transactions allows the sales team to spend more time on complex customer services and product sales.

October 18, 2018 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Lisbon-based Banco BPI, part of CaixaBank Group, has committed itself to automating 100 percent of teller transactions by next year. Francisco Manuel Barbeira, the executive board member leading the bank's digital transformation, outlined how the bank is accomplishing this goal during the Diebold Nixdorf International Management Seminar in Lisbon, Portugal.

Banco BPI has revamped its branches to offer more automated transactions, deploying more automation technology and employing fewer tellers. This represents a significant investment, Barbeira said, but it will allow the institution to automate all of its money-handling.

The bank believes that this approach enables the sales team to focus on more complex products and services, and less on basic teller transactions. Barbeira described the BPI's "GoBanking" service for business customers, in which a bank representative can prepare for the meeting on a laptop and then switch to shared mode once face-to-face with the customer.

By eliminating assisted transactions in the branches, all of the branch staff become mobile, Barbeira said. Currently, half are mobile, and 91 percent of transactions are self-service.

Omnichannel communication

Banco BPI also has introduced an omnichannel communication feed that gives customers direct access to their banking information, including balances, transactions, savings, investments, available credit and more.

Customers can access the feed via their smartphone, their desktop or a self-service device. The can provide personal alerts if the customer desires, and also can assist customers to schedule meetings with bank representatives.

"It's the glue of all the channels that we have," Barbeira said of the feed. "The app is really a piece of this transformation. This is a very interactive approach."

All branches will offer self-service devices, which will be available 24/7. Some branches will make a teller available for cash transactions during limited hours, while others will make managers available to assist customers with specific products.

The new self-service center offers cash recycling and more advanced transactions to customers via the Diebold Nixdorf multifunction CS 4090. Advanced services include cash and coin deposit, note changing, check ordering, bundled check deposit and account balance information. The machine's user interface delivers the same customer experience as Banco BPI's online and mobile channels.

The second phase of the solution will introduce full integration with the assisted service application used by branch staff, in addition to integration with mobile and online services. Customers will be able to initiate transactions outside the branch that would normally require teller assistance. Cardless transactions also will be enabled. Customers completing deposits will be able to personalize the information on their account statements just as they would at a teller window.

The solution has already been implemented at 40 of the bank's branches, and will be online at an additional 45 branches by the end of year, Barbeira said.

Mobile branch debuts

And then there is the mobile branch, a truck outfitted with a cash recycler that allows Banco BPI to reach underserved areas where operation of a brick-and-mortar branch simply is not feasible.

"This is a totally new experience for us," Barbeira said. The mobile branch, now in its third month, has been a big success so far, he said.

The mobile branch will reduce the amount of traffic at some existing branches, and will allow the bank to establish a presence across a wider footprint. Barbeira said that Banco BPI staff overwhelmingly support the mobile branch concept.

A business model for BPI's new branch structure will require some trial and error before it can be completely buttoned-down and finalized, Barbeira said. And while it will take some time to achieve, he sees a future in which banks will be able to manage customer relationships successfully without needing physical branches at all.