Reportage

Constant innovation and technology are essential to developing new kinds of relationships and adapting to the needs of clients and the market. Personalising our range of products, improving the user experience, the growing importance of advice and the increase in interaction via mobile channels: these are issues and trends that companies cannot ignore.

Rapid technological development is influencing every economic sector, as well as customer behaviour. The financial sector, like others, is in a constant process of transformation. Committing to new technologies to develop joint solutions as efficiently as possible and ensure a better end user experience is of key importance to CaixaBank, which has spent years developing technological solutions and modernising its spaces for interaction with its clients.

Technological evolution and digitisation are opening up a new era for the traditional service model, and banks must adapt to this if they want to remain relevant to their clients

The organisation continues to reinforce its leadership in online banking with the largest online client base in Spain: a 32% market share; 6.1 million online clients (58% of the bank's clients in Spain) and 5.2 million mobile banking clients. CaixaBank has developed products that have been technological milestones in the sector and remains committed to constant innovation, as shown by some of the spaces it has set up, including DayOne, imaginCafé and the Payment Innovation Hub, the three main components of the bank's innovation roadmap.

From DayOne…

To assist global start-ups and scale-ups doing business in Spain who seek to speed up their growth through specialist financial advice, CaixaBank has launched DayOne, a new concept in financial services created exclusively for innovative businesses with high growth potential. The organisation has physical premises that work as hubs to bring together talent and capital in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. It also has a portfolio of clients in Bilbao and Málaga.

The creation of DayOne reinforces the bank's strategy of offering a banking model specialising in different segments, fully adjusted to fit the needs of each client profile. DayOne centres are intended as hubs where talent and capital can come together, serving as a meeting place between the founders of technology businesses, the partners who can help them to make their business grow and investors interested in innovative companies with growth potential.

DayOne is CaixaBank's specialist service for innovation and technology companies and their investors

DayOne Barcelona is housed in the new CaixaBank space in the Chamber of Commerce building on the Avinguda Diagonal; the Madrid centre is on the ground floor of Calle Juan Bravo 3, while DayOne Valencia is in the bank's headquarters building.

…to the Payment Innovation Hub…

CaixaBank, together with Global Payments, Samsung, Vira and Arval, has set up the first innovation centre in Spain specialising in trade and means of payment: the Payment Innovation Hub. Located at Pier01 in Barcelona and with 1,000 square metres of floor space, it has co-working areas, an area for product demonstrations and trials and an auditorium seating 120 people, among other facilities.

The hub has various lines of research focusing on providing a response to new trends and demands among consumers and on how new technologies can be applied to means of payment.

In the first few months of its existence, the centre was working on four main projects.

• Setting up cashless spaces: this involves digitising all payments made on a particular site.
• Invisible payments: this is a cutting-edge trend with a high potential for boosting physical purchases, as it does away with queues.
• Fintech: the Payment Innovation Hub explores new services that can be created on the basis of applying the PSD2 directive and the increasing closeness between technology companies and banks.
• The connected car: this assesses the new possibilities arising from the spread of connected cars, such as paying in petrol stations without getting out of the vehicle, new solutions for car parks or entrance to events or closed sites.

The Payment Innovation Hub also cooperates with Visa Innovation Studio Tel Aviv to explore the creation of new solutions and forms of payment taking advantage of Israeli fintech capacities. The two centres have joined forces to respond the challenges and opportunities offered by digital transformation in the payment ecosystem.

…and finally, imaginCafé

Located at one of the spots most central and frequented by young people in Barcelona (Carrer Pelai 11), with 1,200 square metres of floor space, CaixaBank has imaginCafé, a landmark for millennials.

ImaginCafé runs a broad programme of initiatives, basically linked to technology, music and the creative industries. Highlights among its activities include live concerts and shows, gaming sessions, DJ sessions, film showings, video art shows, exhibitions, presentations, conferences and more, all taking place in this space open to the general public, though there are activities, premium content and a wide range of advantages and discounts exclusively for imaginBank clients.

Young consumers demand more entertainment, fun, spaces for sharing and creating... and imaginCafé is an approach to what they are looking for: a new relationship with this client profile.

It is a place for discovering what's new and trending and a place that generates experiences that enable CaixaBank to get closer to its youngest users in a distinctive way. imaginCafé is also a place for creativity, one that supports young talents so that they can put their own ideas into practice and exhibit their projects in public.

To host all these activities, imaginCafé is laid out on three floors, with a restaurant area, exhibition areas, giant screens for showing audiovisuals, special areas for workshops and interactive training sessions and an auditorium seating up to 250 people.