While the pandemic hasn’t altered Intesa Sanpaolo’s innovation strategy, it has accelerated trends already occurring within the market, according to Paola Papanicolaou, group head of innovation at the Italian banking group. For example, she points to the drive to become more customer-centric in retail banking.
“Five or so years ago, we were much more branch-centric – a customer would come to the branch and ask for something. Today, the customer is the decision-maker as to which channel they want to use, when and how they want to use it,” Ms Papanicolaou says. As such, Intesa Sanpaolo has updated its technology infrastructure to operate 24/7 and provide a consistent experience across customer channels.
