Northmill creates a personal banking experience with its customers
As the banking sector digitalises, growing numbers of customers are turning to neobanks that are able to challenge the traditional way of banking with digital payment solutions, savings accounts and solutions that aim to help people improve their financial life.
This is the segment where Swedish Northmill wants to grow market share. Since the company opened for business in 2006, it has helped drive the digitalisation of the banking world, for example by being an early adopter of bank ID as a login tool back in 2007.
Two years ago, Northmill was facing an exciting shift. The company had just had its banking license approved and was ready to take its next step. As a brand new neobank, they took a step back and asked themselves: “How can we improve the regular banking customer experience?”
Our collaboration with Visa gives us a broad toolbox with world-class expertise.
- Nikola Markovic, Product Manager at Northmill
“We wanted to get a better understanding of our customers’ needs and conducted surveys and interviews to understand what problems are most important for customers to get help with. The whole process was really valuable and we agreed to create a payment solution together with Visa that suited all our customers. For example, it was important to offer a virtual and a physical bank card, to instantly be able to help the customer wherever they are.” says Nikola Markovic, Product Manager at Northmill.
In addition to its global payment network and broad expertise, key to the choice of Visa as a partner was its strong local presence in the Nordic region. Working together, they also made it possible for Northmill to become a ‘Principal Member’, which means that you can issue your own cards, instead of having to involve a third party issuer.
“Our collaboration with Visa gives us a broad toolbox with world-class expertise. We receive valuable advice from the local fintech team and access to invaluable insights about the payment market from the experts that can help our products become better for our customers. This can be anything from how to increase usage of our cards or how to better understand who our customers are and how to solve their daily problems.”
This sort of improvement in Northmill’s product represents an opportunity to give customers useful insights about their consumption. For example, a person who often buys single tickets on public transport should be able to receive prompts that it makes more sense to buy a monthly card - and thus save money every month.
Another key to creating a fully digital and personal banking experience is that customers can get started quickly. With the new card, which is available virtually and physically, customers can be ready to make a purchase in under a minute. All you need is to be able to identify yourself digitally.
“We feel that our smooth and simple onboarding process is a competitive advantage. If you lose your card while you are abroad, it’s crucial to have access to a virtual payment card as soon as possible,” says Nikola. With its basic services in place, Northmill has begun to look towards Europe, where they see unlimited opportunities to form new partnerships through Visa’s global network - a door-opener in each individual market.
“We share a common goal to develop the digital and personal banking experience to make it more relevant and intelligent than it is today. Visa’s toolbox and broad expertise in every area of the payment market increases our opportunities to develop flexible banking services with in-demand functionality. We see how the entire banking sector is being digitalised right now and we want to do more to deliver the most relevant and personal banking experience, it feels like the fun starts for us now!”
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