The mobile banking and payment market in Poland has been one of the fastest-growing in Europe. Leading the way is PKO Bank Polski SA, which launched IKO, its “bank-in-the-pocket” mobile solution, and BLIK, a universal payment system for all banks in Poland.
PKO Bank Polski, which has more than 9 million consumer and business customers, is rolling out updates to the mobile app that allow single-click purchasing and contactless payments.
The bank’s success is powered by a market-first mentality that helped deliver mobile banking at a time when Polish consumers were still unsure about the accuracy and safety of banking with their mobile phones.
The IKO mobile application works on iOS and Android operating systems and was built on Google Cloud using, among others, Anthos components (Istio service mesh) and Google Kubernetes Engine.
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Innovate and grow through risk
“PKO decided to release a mobile application to reach new customers. We wanted to reach young customers, and the way to them is through the cell phone,” says Michal Macierzyński, head of digital channels at PKO Bank Polski.
“The main risk when we began creating a mobile banking app was that there were very few financial applications on the Polish market. Customers were not used to them.”
In 2013, the bank began working with DXC Technology to deploy IKO. The results have been impressive: In 2017, the IKO user base was 2 million customers, who made an estimated 32 million transactions using the mobile app. But IKO is more than a means of making payments. It is a mobile banking center where customers can check information about their accounts, cards, loans and deposits, transfer money, withdraw cash from ATMs without a card, make contactless payments, manage deposits and more.
“The application has helped convince customers that PKO Bank Polski is a modern bank that implements new technical solutions, and it provides those customers with a new communication channel with the institution,” Macierzyński says.
“PKO decided to release a mobile application to reach new customers. We wanted to reach young customers, and the way to them is through the cell phone.”
Michal Macierzyński Head of Digital Channels, PKO Bank Polski
Today, IKO is the most popular mobile banking application in Poland. Based on feedback from more than 140,000 users, IKO ranks No. 1 in Google Play, Apple App Store and Windows Phone Store, with ratings at about 4.7 out of 5.
In 2018, Retail Banker International, a global editorially independent retail banking briefing service, evaluated 100 applications from banks all over the world and selected IKO as the best mobile banking application.
Value delivered
The birth of a new standard
BLIK, which was introduced in February 2015 as a joint venture between Poland’s six leading banks, was a milestone in the creation of a national common payment standard. The system lets customers use their mobile phones to withdraw cash from more than 17,000 ATMs and pay at hundreds of thousands of terminals and most online stores. The system is designed for convenience and security. All transactions must be confirmed by the mobile phone user.
“We managed to create a new cell phone-based payment standard that did not rely on debit-credit cards, but used a six-digit code that was generated in the application and could be used to pay at payment terminals [or] online, or to withdraw money from ATMs,” says Macierzyński.
In 2017, over 6 million BLIK users conducted 33 million transactions, including 22 million online payments, 8 million cash withdrawals from ATMs, 1.8 million point-of-sale payments and 1.6 million money transfers to a mobile number. That’s an annual increase of 270% in all transactions.
Currently, 90% of financial institution customers in Poland can use BLIK within their mobile applications.
“We managed to create a new cell phone-based payment standard that did not rely on debit-credit cards, but used a six-digit code that was generated in the application and could be used to pay at payment terminals [or] online, or to withdraw money from ATMs.”
Michal Macierzyński Head of Digital Channels, PKO Bank Polski
DXC partnership built on trust
The scope of the solutions has spanned DXC’s services in design, application development, agile software engineering, systems integration testing and business analytics. Working out of DXC’s delivery center in Warsaw and onsite at the bank’s headquarters, a team of 25 DXC application services experts collaborated with PKO Bank Polski to design and implement IKO and BLIK. Central to the successful rollout was DXC’s agile approach during the software development process that let the bank review progress on a day-to-day basis and influence how the final products looked.
“We have created a national solution which has become the standard for the entire Polish market. We’ve managed to reach a new audience, and it certainly has helped sustain the perception of PKO Bank Polski as a modern player in the banking sector.”
Michal Macierzyński Head of Digital Channels, PKO Bank Polski
Cooperation between PKO Bank Polski and DXC is based on mutual trust. Whenever issues pop up, DXC supports the bank in solving them, says Aneta Biernat, director of the retail e-banking, mobile and card applications development bureau at PKO Bank Polski. “We can always work together in one room, think about and solve all of the issues that occur when implementing a new app version or business idea,” she says.
The strength of IKO and BLIK has set the stage for PKO Bank Polski’s market leadership today and in the future. Says Macierzyński, “We have created a national solution which has become the standard for the entire Polish market. We’ve managed to reach a new audience, and it certainly has helped sustain the perception of PKO Bank Polski as a modern player in the banking sector.”
DXC’s ongoing work with PKO Bank Polski will reinforce the financial institution’s leadership position as it meets the evolving demands of its customers and fulfills its goal of omnichannel banking.
