The bank is looking for new ways of operating globally to stand out from the competition. Its innovative payment solutions and carefully designed digital platforms are proof of this. In addition, aware of the importance of increasing the time of use, they are always on the lookout for new FinTech developments.
This is the case of the “Hucha Santander” product, a tool that allows users to improve their financial health effortlessly.
Operation of Banco Santander’s Microsavings app
“Hucha Santander” offers customers the possibility of saving a portion of their income through automatic rules, such as rounding off purchases or regular contributions. Users can also personalize their savings goals with a name or image of their choice and set a time horizon for reaching them. The problem is that there is often a motivational barrier to saving.
Let’s not kid ourselves, we all have a hard time staying committed to good habits in general, much more so with our financial cushion. This is where the principles of behavioral finance come into play: as Nobel Prize-winning economist Richard Thaler said:
“Sometimes it takes a little nudge to help people make decisions that will benefit them in the long run”.
Richard Thaler
For this reason, the Santander Piggy Bank offers a multitude of configuration and customization options to increase commitment to the goals set.
How does the Santander Piggy Bank work?
- Rounding of card purchases up to the top unit.
- Fixed monthly contribution. A percentage of payroll, for example.
- Punctual contribution of an amount, established by the user.
- Gamification: contributions will be made every time your favorite team scores a goal or wins a game.
- Personalization: a name and an image can be added to the goal to increase commitment.
What are the advantages of the Santander Piggy Bank?
Among its advantages is the convenience of being able to withdraw cash at any time, as the money accumulates in the Digital Piggy Bank, a commission-free current account where savings are 100% secure. The customer can watch his money grow according to the rules he has defined.
Once the savings goal has been reached, the user can:
- Enjoy exclusive discounts using the cards or receive a refund of a portion of their purchases the following month when shopping at Premia stores.
- Access exclusive experiences and sweepstakes (sports, entertainment, leisure, culture, music and gastronomy).
- Check accumulated Avios in Santander One Iberia Plus, access offers to get more and discover how to enjoy them in flights, hotels and experiences.
The role of financial institutions as allies of their clients
Banco Santander needed an agile solution with which its users could save practically without realizing it. Knowing that a high percentage of the Spanish population needs to improve their financial literacy and that almost 35% do not know how inflation affects their ability to save, they decided to launch a tool that makes managing their household finances simple and fun.
Gen Z recently stated in a Deloitte survey that their financial future and managing their household finances cause them a high level of stress. Luckily, technology can help them by turning their banks into allies by offering them financial information pills, micro-savings modules integrated into the App or hyper-personalized recommendations.
Integration and results obtained by the Santander Piggy Bank in its first year
The micro-savings module is integrated through API (Application Programming Interface) in a simple and fast way in the bank’s digital platforms. It is a system that can be consumed through its installation on the bank’s servers, from a private cloud or from the Coinscrap Finance cloud. It is a totally flexible and multilingual installation.
Let’s talk about results: in less than 10 months, the Piggy Bank obtained 80,000 customers, generated more than 161 million euros in savings and increased the NPS of the service by 20%.
As the bank states in its blog:
“Hucha Santander joins the latest automated financial solutions for expense control that the bank is making available to its customers.”
The advantages of being positioned as a leader in innovation in the world of finance
This commitment to innovation has earned Santander recognition by Euromoney as the best digital bank in Western Europe. This award highlights the digitalization of the bank’s processes and operations, as well as the use of artificial intelligence tools and machine learning algorithms to create more predictive models and services.
In Spain, Santander’s mobile application has 4.5 million customers, and if web accesses are added, the figure rises to 5.8 million.
The trust that the bank has placed in Coinscrap Finance is perfectly summarized in the following sentence by Diego Romero, Head of Mobile Banking Europe & Spain at Banco Santander:
“The collaboration with Coinscrap Finance has accelerated and enhanced Banco Santander’s microsavings project. The collaboration with FinTech companies allows the bank to reduce time to market through very fast and concrete technology integrations.”
Diego Romero
This is a great example of how behavioral finance can help the end user. If you are interested in more information, we will be happy to offer you free guidance on the most innovative tools in the banking and insurance market.
