Efma and Accenture Announce 2014 Global Financial Services Award Winners

Efma, an association whose membership includes nearly one-third of the world’s large retail banks, and Accenture (NYSE:ACN) have announced the winners of their second annual Global Distribution & Marketing Innovation Awards for financial services. The global program, jointly launched by Efma and Accenture, recognizes financial services firms for the most innovative projects and initiatives in distribution and marketing.

More than 250 financial institutions from 69 countries submitted nearly 600 case studies of customer innovations within nine categories – three of which are new categories this year: Customer Experience, Physical Distribution, Digital Distribution, Customer Analytics & Big Data, Digital Marketing (new), Sales Effectiveness, Sustainable Business, Best New Product or Service (new), and Everyday Banking (new), which recognizes those institutions that have evolved their business models to fulfill customers’ daily financial and non-financial needs. Three additional awards were granted to recognize the “Global Bank Innovator,” “Most Disruptive Idea” and “Most Promising Idea.”

The winners were selected by a combination of votes from a panel of judges composed exclusively of senior retail bankers from around the world and online votes from Efma members, which include 3,300 retail financial services companies in more than 130 countries.

This year’s winners are:

  • Global Bank Innovator: La Caixa, Spain, for committing its overall vision to innovation, developing new projects throughout the organization to continuously challenge and improve the bank’s business model.
  • Most Disruptive Idea: mBank, Poland, for mDeals, the first European implementation of merchant-funded transactional marketing, an innovation that redefines financial services business-as-usual.
  • Most Promising Idea: mBank, which developed a way to perform online, loan underwriting and credit scoring in 30 seconds. Money transfers instantly into the customer’s account and the customer can repay with debit card or at any ATM.
  • Customer Experience: DenizBank, Turkey, for its fastPay Money Withdrawal by Voice Order, a mobile wallet app that allows customers to withdraw money by voice command and finds the closest DenizBank ATM where the transaction is completed.
  • Physical Distribution: Umpqua, United States, for its flagship store in San Francisco that uses technology and innovative design to create a unique, customer-centric banking experience that engages customers and the larger community.
  • Digital Distribution: InShared, Netherlands, the first fully online insurer, for its end-to-end digital claims handling.
  • Customer Analytics & Big Data: Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy, for its multi-banked customer management model, a predictive statistics-driven approach that allows the bank to identify multi-banked customers, perform a root-cause analysis of the “multi-banked” status and provide relationship managers with recommendations and solutions that enable them to develop the relationship with those customers.
  • Digital Marketing: Kasikornbank, Thailand, for its effective digital social engagement channels to extend the institution’s reach rate.
  • Sales EffectivenessBarclays Bank, United Kingdom, for Barclays’ Digital Eagles effort to close the digital divide and become the most digitally savvy workforce in the world.
  • Everyday Banking: mBank, for mDeals, Europe’s first transactional marketing platform offering banking rewards, automatic redemption with card transactions and behavior-based offer targeting.
  • Sustainable Business: Fidelidade - Companhia de Seguros, Portugal, for WeCare, a commitment to the professional and social reintegration of the victims of serious accidents.
  • Best New Product: Kotak Mahindra Bank, India, for Jifi, the first-of-its-kind fully integrated social bank account seamlessly incorporating social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter with mainstream banking.

“What’s really new in retail financial services with our Efma-Accenture Awards is that they are awarded by peers from the industry,” said Patrick Desmarès, Secretary General of Efma. “The panel of judges is composed of 27 senior bankers and insurers from 20 countries on all continents. Thousands of Efma members have also taken part in an online voting process. Our Awards are also truly global, with innovations from 69 countries. Last but not least, detailed fact-based case studies are available for all 600 innovations that have been entered into the competition, making this a unique database.”

Piercarlo Gera, global managing director of Accenture Distribution and Marketing Services, said, “In a digital world, winning and retaining customers hinges on creating value that enhances the convenience and quality of their everyday lives beyond mere transactions. “For banks, this means a shift in strategic focus from being just a provider of financial products and services to being a provider of solutions. Banks must learn to play a greater role not only at the moment of the financial transaction, but throughout all its stages. The purpose of this awards program is to identify the best new ideas and recognize the innovators that are driving toward what we call the ‘Everyday Bank’ model.”

“We congratulate the winners of our second annual awards,” said Juan Pedro Moreno, global managing director of Accenture’s banking industry practice. “The digital revolution is radically reshaping just about every aspect of the banking industry, from customer service expectations to consumers’ understanding of what banks can offer. The innovations we celebrate today give us a glimpse of an exciting future for an industry on the forefront of digital transformation.”

About Efma

As a global not-for-profit organization, Efma brings together more than 3,300 retail financial services companies from over 130 countries. With a membership base consisting of almost a third of all large retail banks worldwide, Efma has proven to be a valuable resource for the global industry, offering members exclusive access to a multitude of resources, databases, studies, articles, news feeds and publications. Efma also provides numerous networking opportunities through working groups, online communities and international meetings. For more information: www.efma.com or info@efma.com.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 305,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world's most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Accenture helps financial institutions transform their customer relationships through Accenture Distribution and Marketing Services, a business service within Accenture’s financial services operating group, serving more than 100 institutions worldwide. Accenture Distribution and Marketing Services combines Accenture’s deep industry knowledge in banking, insurance and wealth management with proven expertise in marketing, distribution and innovation. It blends Accenture’s strategy, digital, technology and operations capabilities to help institutions improve growth and cost management through better customer relationships.

Contacts:

Accenture
François Luu, + 33 6 60 53 84 28
francois.luu@accenture.com
or
Melissa Volin, + 267 216 1815
melissa.volin@accenture.com
or
Lara Wozniak, + 852 6196 0362
lara.wozniak@accenture.com
or
Efma
Karine Coutinho, + 33 1 47 42 69 82
karine@efma.com

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