In a complex environment with interest rates at an all-time low, what business models make sense for both banks and customers? Finding the best idea that answers this question was the challenge for Open Talent Ideas, and the Garanti Mobile Payment team – BBVA’s bank in Turkey – won.
BBVA launched this competition in February to attract the most innovative ideas and those with the desire to tackle the challenges facing the financial industry in the future. Yesterday, the 10 finalists presented their idea to a committee of experts comprised of members of BBVA’s senior management.
The winning idea was GarantiStore, a mobile app able to identify products automatically. Through image recognition techniques or by scanning bar codes, the app recognizes the product the user wants to purchase, immediately allowing them to purchase it online.
It was Reha Emekli, Ozcan Yahsi, Ozgur Sanli, Sabri Kantar and Dogukan Tizer who came up with the idea – members of Garanti’s mobile payment team. Garanti is the Turkish bank in which BBVA has a 49.85% stake. Once again Garanti’s team has demonstrated why it is a pioneer and digitization leader in Turkey.
The cash prize is 10,000 euros, and the winners also received advice from BBVA’s senior management to develop their idea.
More than 300 ideas were contributed from 49 different countries. The 10 best were selected and then defended before a jury comprised of BBVA’s top management. The 10 finalists also had the opportunity to debate the future of the financial industry in a complex environment where interest rates are expected to remain low for an extended period of time.
Marisol Menéndez, the Head of Open Innovation at BBVA thanked everyone who attended for their participation and enthusiasm when sharing their ideas.
The Open Talent Ideas initiative is part of BBVA’s open innovation process, which includes other competitions like Open Talent.
