Page 32 - Annual Report 2022

DIGITAL BANKING

2022 was a challenging year for Albania to exceed
expectations in terms of digitalization. BKT’s digital
flagship BKT SMART (Mobile Application) has
been made over from scratch and became the
most popular financial application in Albania with
the highest ratings. It includes many new features:
QR Payments (to static environments, to P2P on
app or P2C on POS), and unique functionalities
like an in-app digital insurance platform (enabling
customers to compare policies from four different
insurance companies), an in-app private pension
platform (enabling customers to choose a private
pension fund between two companies), an in-
app global investment platform (customers may
invest globally in stocks, indices, ETFs, funds,
and even commodities using leverage), and an
in-app personal finance budgeting tool (allowing
customers to plan their budget and expenses).
Requesting money and dividing bills are other
unique attributes of BKT SMART.

The newest UX design methodologies have been
used to meet the expectations of mobile users by
combining fintech design styles with generally
accepted mobile banking application styles.
UX design was defined according to the latest
research on mobile app designs, considering
different ages, social statuses and focus groups
to find the best fit to cover all customer segments.

Meanwhile, the security of the app has reached
the highest level to mitigate risk concerns of
customers due to emerging cybersecurity
incidents in the country, which became a hot
topic in the second half of the year. The bank
also created a video tutorial library to educate its
customers about the usage of the application, as
well as other video tutorials aiming to increase
financial literacy.

Digital migration targets have been achieved by
reducing branch transactions and increasing
digital usage. B2B invoice payments via digital
channels in particular increased immediately after
the launch of the new service (the new rule gives
companies the responsibility to issue e-invoices).
It uses QR scanning or upload techniques to get
all the details of the e-invoices to perform quick
and error-free digital payment in compliance with
the regulations.