Eurogiro News
5
The Eurogiro CEO, Michel Stuijt, wrapped up
his first year in office by stating ‘we are proud’.
Proud of the achievements to connect across
continents and payment ecosystems, and
proud to welcome the following new members
who add new expertise and reach
Michel Stuijt also underlined the importance
for Eurogiro to maintain a focus on reinvent-
ing financial services. The market for cross
border payments has been developing rapid-
ly over past years, with agile and demanding
clients, competition from new entrants and
much more regulation. Eurogiro would do its
utmost to meet the needs of its members.
The chairman of the Eurogiro Board, Sylvie
Solignac, from La Banque Postale in France,
announced her resignation and summed
up her three years in the chair, noting that
Eurogiro had continuously expanded its geo-
graphical reach, in particular in Asia where
the business potential is enormous. Sylvie
Solignac also welcomed the first large-scale
Eurogiro member survey as an initiative that
brought Eurogiro closer to its members. She
had been very pleased to note that more
than 70 per cent of member organisations
had participated and that members in gen-
eral were very satisfied with the products,
the services and the staff of Eurogiro.
Reinventing financial services
– be ‘client centric’
The host of the meeting, PTT Turkey, was
a showcase in proving what can be gained
from focusing on how to attract customers.
In the past 10 years, PTT has reinvented
all its connections to clients using state-of-
the-art technology to offer choice by way of
innovative services such as mobile and in-
ternet channels and refurbished, automated
branches. Innovative re-use of technology
had resulted.
Reggy de Feniks and Roger Peverelli
presented their research on what consum-
ers expect from financial institutions and
offered a variety of examples to underpin
their conclusions. Social media technol-
ogy, new generations among clients and
the aftermath of the recent financial crisis
had created a shift in financial power. New
power nations emerge alongside the es-
tablished ones, and yet the ability to create
and maintain the trust of clients determines
the winners. Being close to the client in
experience, by high frequency contacts and
steady, good quality rather than physical
vicinity, are determining factors. They dem-
onstrated how making a detailed map of the
customer journey when using a service had
proved very efficient for many companies.
Advantages came from being able to tap
into the ‘wisdom of the crowd’, i.e. experi-
ence from test clients, and combine it with
insights from all the in-house teams which
contributed to the service.
New options for Eurogiro members
China UnionPay and Ncore Systems
presented a new way of doing business in
China, the second largest retail market in
the world. As part of the current five-year-
plan, RMB as a major currency for trade and
investments became a key theme and with
it a significant ease of doing business with
China. China UnionPay and Eurogiro were
investigating how they could offer reach to
all accounts in China via a connection to
Eurogiro benefitting all Eurogiro members.
E-Commerce was presented as a fast grow-
ing line of business with much promise, not
least for postal organisations. Stefano Gori,
Poste Italiane, introduced an idea whereby
posts took on the role of enabler of eCom-
merce by leveraging their distribution powers
as well as their payment services domestical-
ly and cross-border. Collaboration amongst
Eurogiro members in doing so could be very
profitable, considering the growth within
cross-border eCommerce. Mark Harrison,
from International Post Corporation told a
similar story from the parcel post angle.
3
Eurogiro community meeting 2014 – connections
across continents
Istanbul, as the location for the 2014 Eurogiro Community meeting, epitomised what the Eurogiro
community meeting is all about: business thrives when we connect across continents and look for
inspiration in many directions. The 2014 meeting combined the classical community presentations
and bilateral meetings with insights from new lines of financial business.
The Eurogiro community listening to research on what consumers expect from future financial
institutions. Speaking here is Roger Peverelli, co-author of the international best-selling book
'Reinventing Financial Services. What Consumers expect from Future Banks and Insurers'.
New Menbers
>
Pos Indonesia, Indonesia*
>
Garanti Bank, Turkey
>
Banco de Oro, Philippines*
>
Earthport Plc, United Kingdom*
>
HSBC Bank Plc, United Kingdom*
*connection to our system is in process
