Invest your spare change Qorus-Infosys Finacle Banking Innovation Awards 2024

Concept and Objectives The initiative addresses the well-known problem of young people not investing. The solution automatically rounds up each payment transaction by linking investing to everyday spending and investing the difference. This seamless integration into daily life makes investing habitual, eliminating common barriers such as high entry costs and perceived complexity. This solution is fully aligned with the objectives of the upcoming EU Retail Investment Strategy.

Reasons Behind the Initiative 1. Engagement: Young people are often reluctant to invest due to the perceived lack of disposable income and the complexity of investment processes. 2. Behavioral Shift: Transforming small, daily expenditures into investment opportunities encourages a gradual shift toward long-term financial planning. 3. Simplicity and Accessibility: The process is straightforward, requiring no initial risk profiling and minimal customer effort, thus reducing friction, and increasing participation. 4. Regulatory Pressure: The upcoming EU Retail Investment Strategy focuses on empowering retail investors, preparing for pensions, and supporting the Green Deal while emphasizing investor protection. This solution ticks all the boxes.

State of Competition Micro-investing is not new, but its execution often falls short. Traditional financial institutions usually place spare change into savings accounts rather than investments, which is not transformative. FinTech companies understand the need to invest spare change but often have lengthy onboarding processes, require separate apps, require repetitive consent, and have high service costs, deterring new investors. Our approach integrates investments into everyday transactions within our mobile app, offering a first-mover advantage. Next to this we allow for unique customization, as clients can boost their round ups: the amount of every micro investment can be multiplied by a factor of 2 or 3.

Sources of Inspiration - Behavioral Economics highlights the importance of making beneficial behaviors easy and automatic. - FinTech Innovations: Models like Acorns have demonstrated the effectiveness of micro-investing linked to everyday spending. - Consumer Feedback: Understanding young consumers' pain points and preferences helped shape a user-friendly and engaging investment solution.

Departments Involved 1. KBC AM Innovation Department (everyoneINVESTED) created, refined, and crafted the "Invest Your Spare Change" concept into a powerful investment solution for the “rest of us”. 2. Payments Department helped to internally promote the solution as it made “payments more valuable” rather than just “investing easy”. 3. IT and UX Design ensured a seamless, user-friendly digital experience within the KBC mobile banking app. 4. Marketing and Communications developed several award-winning campaigns to promote the service and highlight its benefits. 5. Compliance & Legal: Ensuring regulatory compliance is maintained throughout the process.

Main Results So Far - Significant Engagement: 63% of users are first-time investors, and the average age of the investor base has decreased by 25 years. - Boosting digital sales of investments: The average monthly investment with the solution is slightly more than EUR 15, comparable to traditional investment plans but requiring much less commercial effort to attract new investors. - Upselling Opportunities: 15% of these new investors expand their investment portfolio within six months, 40% of all spare change investors did so since start.