Polish bank, first to launch remote banking services in Romania

Polish Idea Bank has started to issue credit cards without physically meeting the clients and to send them via courier thus becoming the first local lender to enter the remote banking segment in Romania. The clients who want to get credit cards no longer need to go to a banking unit to fill in the paperwork. The bank is also preparing to launch online lending products. “We are one of the small banks and don’t have a significant network, but the Internet, telephony, and email are available anywhere, even in the mountains you have 3G networks. We have already tested our process and have issued a few tens of credit cards,” said Antim Iordache, director for cards and online banking at Idea Bank, cited by local Wall-street.ro. The process for issuing a credit card remotely includes contacting the clients by phone and asking them to send photos of their identification papers. The bank can check a client’s identity by asking him to transfer RON 1 to an Idea Bank account. If the client can do that, that means that another bank has already checked his ID when opening his account. “This process has been used in Poland for many years with great success,” according to the Idea Bank representative. The client gets the credit card by courier and gives the courier a signed agreement that allows Idea Bank to interrogate his tax history and check if he has enough revenues to get the loan. If he is cleared, then the bank unlocks the money on the credit card, which the client can use. The bank’s next step is to launch the Selfie online loan, which requires some more steps and a better technology for face recognition. This type of loan may become a reality in the next years in Romania. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Idea-bank.ro)