The Creval Group ranks 6th on the KPMG list of Internet banking services most used in Italy
In the latest KPMG report on online finance, the Creval Group came in sixth in the Italian ranking for use of Internet banking services, with a market share of 3.5%, topped only by certain large banking conglomerates and the Italian postal service. This market share, an extremely significant one, is the result of specific strategies the group has been pursuing over the years.
For the Creval Group, which has always been a firm believer in the Internet's potential as a distribution channel, this is an important acknowledgement which rewards the efforts and the investments it has made to provide its customers with a simple, clear, direct Internet banking system.
The study has shown that no less than 5 million Italians use the Internet to carry out financial operations on a total of 7.5 million active accounts, a figure which should increase to 10 million within 2006.
The services showing steady growth are those connected with home banking: transfers, payments, and checking on account balances, whereas those more closely connected with online trading have seen a slight downturn.
The study found that during the first half of 2004, online operations showed very substantial growth rates, and the most popular service was prepaid cellular phone credit (+38%).
The Creval Group's online service allows customers to perform various operations: from making traditional transfers, to paying bills, to reloading cellular phone credit, as well as using Cart@perta, the Creval Group credit card which can be completely managed over the Internet, and this year's new addition, online payment of the Italian TV subscription fee. There are also numerous options in terms of data consultation: from classic bank statements, to cheque status, to safe custody accounts, to account statements which the customer can choose to have calculated for the past year, or broken down by interest period. The system automatically creates a page set up like an actual balance sheet, i.e., divided into receipts and expenditures, which are in turn broken down into current receipts/expenditures, period receipts/expenditures, loans, and financial transactions.
Over 190,000 customers currently make use of the group's internet banking services.
The Internet, in accordance with the group's three-year strategic plan, is under steady development as a distribution channel. This is in order to keep up with the times and ensure customer access to cutting-edge, user-friendly services. The group places an equal focus on constantly upgrading security standards, and keeping costs at an extremely competitive level.
The success of Internet banking systems, as with any technology, can be measured through ease of use. Since the very beginning, the Creval Group has spared no efforts in this field, without, of course, neglecting multichannel strategies which aim at supplementing, rather than replacing, its many forms of customer contact.
