Anyone who owns a Postepay card or even a card linked to the Bancoposta account and owns a smartphone, from the month of July can pay with a finger. That is, with your fingerprints thus avoiding passwords and awkward steps to be recognized. How you do it? With the App (respectively Postepay or Bancoposta), which can be downloaded free of charge, which connects the consumer with his card and which has already allowed him to make payments for some time. In the case of Postepay, there is also the possibility of making real-time P2P money transfers – i.e. from Postepay to Postepay – by clicking on one's contacts in the telephone book, like sending a WhatsApp message.
The new function - launched at the beginning of the month by Poste - now allows you to archive your fingerprint or fingerprint. All the operations that could already be done before can also be done now with the facilitation linked to the fact that - instead of typing in a numeric Pin to be authenticated, you pay by placing your finger, that is, with your fingerprint. "Everything is based - explains Poste in communicating the news - on an advanced system that is able to recognize the user's fingerprints". Anyone who owns an iPhone is familiar with the mode fingerprint which has already been released for some time. In this case the function is linked to the App, regardless of the mobile phone you have (as long as it is compatible). The fingerprint function can be activated as well as deactivated through the Settings in the menu of the BancoPosta and Postepay Apps.
By accessing the "Access and authorisation" section, it is also possible to manage the access function with the fingerprint and, once the function is activated, just place your finger on the sensor to authorize the operation.
Fingerprint authorization is also envisaged for "Paga con Postepay" payments, made available to companies that provide an online sales channel for their customers and thus encourage e-commerce transactions. In practice, the affiliated online shops will have a button dedicated to the payment of the transaction with the two Poste cards - Carta BancoPosta and Postepay - which together have reached 26 million customers.
ITALIAN POST AND PAYMENTS
To get an idea of the volumes that Poste Italiane moves, it is worth remembering that every year it ensures over 100 billion in card payments and is the leading national operator for payments on both physical and digital channels. In practice, one payment out of four, in the e-commerce generated in Italy, goes through Poste cards given that around 17 million Apps have been downloaded and over 26 million payment cards have been issued, with a market share in e-commerce payments which exceeds 25%. This is also due to the "Paga con Postepay" solution made available by the group for payments and purchases via the Internet.
FINANCIAL RESULTS OF THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2018 AND THE 2022 DELIVER PLAN
The group led by Matteo Del Fante places many of its growth expectations on this sector. For now, the data for the first quarter of 2018 proved him right: revenues from the payments, mobile and digital sectors amounted to 143 million, up 10% compared to the same period last year, while the operating result for the first quarter amounted to 57 million, an increase of 3,6% compared to the same period of the previous year. Revenues from card payments increased by 20% compared to the same period of the previous year, thanks to an increase in Postepay cards and a high number of transactions, both in the physical and digital channels.
Meanwhile, the "Deliver 2022" strategic plan has led to a 117,7% increase in the number of digital "purses" (e-wallets), which exceed 2,2 million units, while the number of Postepay Evolution cards has increased by 38%, to more than 5,1 million units. The number of daily digital users, equal to 1,4 million, is getting closer and closer to that of the 1,5 million daily visitors to post offices. The demonstration of a digitization phenomenon that is increasingly present even in traditional banks.
2022 FINANCIAL GOALS FOR PAYMENTS, MOBILE AND DIGITAL
Del Fante wants to bring segment revenues to 0,8 billion euros from 0,6 billion in 2017 (including the transition from traditional to digital payments), double payment card revenues: from 200 to 400 million by focusing on digital transactions. Ebitda will thus remain at 0,2 billion, in line with the 2017 figure. All this will require a 12% increase in card transactions and an exponential growth of digital wallets to 6,5 million.
