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Financial Services during the pandemic

The 21st century is digital or not at all. That’s how the current decade should have started, and 2020 is bringing, sadly not for the right reasons, an acceleration of digitization and businesses moving online, just as social interaction is slowly moving online. This series of articles will therefore explore, in the new global context, how the private sector is trying to fight both the healthcare crisis and, more importantly, the social and economic crisis. We will first present how companies or entrepreneurs have adapted to this situation and how some of them have adapted to remain relevant.


Following the outline of business shifts or changes during the crisis, one of the most notable transformations we see is within the state and the financial institutions.

Arising from a pre-existing demand anyway, some state institutions, notably municipalities and financial administrations, have set up or moved some of their activities online. The National Electronic Payment System operates the existing ghiseul.ro platform, which has expanded, so businesses and registered sole traders can pay taxes online, easier and faster than ever. The main impact of this measure is to stabilize this type of operation in the mid and long term, as the trend will continue in the future. Digitalization has been a hot topic in recent months anyway, so the current context has only accelerated things. Thus, the result will be the immediate transformation of the relationship between the state and citizens or companies into a fully digitized relationship, the same for businesses, NGOs, or even public institutions. [1]

One industry also affected was financial services with operations that required physical premises. Thus, insurers have had to move operations online, and insurance brokers who already had part of their operations outsourced to the digital environment have benefited recently. Banks already had online operations offered to their customers, so the services of these platforms have increased by up to 25%. Moreover, banks specialized in services for entrepreneurs provide solutions for turnaround or recovery. The best example is the service offered by Banca Transilvania, which supports the migration of physical shops to online by launching the Ebriza platform and card payment solution with integrated order picking, invoicing, and management facilities. In the same direction of moving retail business online, 17 leading companies have partnered with BT to launch the #VreauOnline initiative offering free how-to training and specialized digital transformation services. [2]

Still in the banking arena, we see the progress of one of the best financial education initiatives, BCR’s successful Money School project (Școala de Bani), moving its workshops exclusively online. The materials can be found at www.scoaladebani.ro/blog, broken down by age segment, with webinars and activity sheets.

At this time, most banks are offering other tools such as home banking services, online instruments, low-interest loans, and other financial facilities, especially for businesses, to help them through this economic downturn.

 

Sources:

Startupcafe.co.uk

Ziuadevest.co.uk

 

– Andreea Brutaru

Account Manager @ Minio Studio