Event Management Activities (EMA): A mobile bank application that utilizes PSD2

The PSD2 directive means big changes for banks - new opportunities but also challenges. In light of the potential for development offered by this new directive, ING Bank Śląski organized 24CodING Hackathon, which gathered over 400 programmers from around the world. They prepared prototypes of applications that utilize the business advantages of the new directive.

e-point’s application used the bank’s open API to create an application that helps people organize trips, outings, excursions or events, and which also helps the bank leverage user data to personalize its offers.

Do gentlemen talk about money?

Nowadays we often organize events together with other people - friends, colleagues or co-workers. We travel together, we go to town, we organize a party. Such situations often present us with a settlement problem: during the event everyone pays for something; someone spontaneously pulls out their payment card and then it’s time to sum up and split the bill.

Until now, doing all this was uncomfortable and time-consuming - someone had to collect all receipts, find out who chipped in, who paid for what exactly, and then calculate who owes money, how much they owe and to whom. Not to mention the unreliability of human memory, which hinders such settlements.

And there is also this well-known myth that gentlemen (or ladies) do not talk about money - it’s still awkward to remind someone about their debt, which - in the long run - harms relationships and leaves hurt feelings.

Solution: EMA application

The whole process can be simplified. When we invite our friends (even with accounts in different banks) to the Event Management Activities (EMA) application, the application will itself record who paid, what they paid for, and how much was paid at a get-together or a trip (the application checks transactions in the account via the bank’s API and if any transaction appears - it asks the user to assign this transaction to an event), and then calculate who owes who and how much. Having such a register, you can settle your bills with friends elegantly, without any stress or additional work.

Enterprise version - the ability to monetize

This kind of application will be beneficial not only for private use but also has huge potential as a tool for companies that send employees to delegations. Having the app, an employee will easily register their expenses while on a business trip. This will facilitate the settlement of expenditures, but will also give the company a better insight into travel-related expenses of their employees. This will allow for a more convenient optimization of costs by identifying areas that consume a lot of resources.

Traditionally, the app’s business version, as opposed to the consumer version, would be a paid version, which means that the application could be monetized.

New level of personalization in the bank

The app integrated with the bank's tools would also allow for better adjustment of the product offer to individual clients. When a person often uses the app to settle movie ticket purchases, we know what their preferences are and we can offer them some attractive benefits - e.g. a ticket discount as part of the partner deal with a cinema chain.

Utilization of PSD2

The EMA app is not available to users - it's a prototype built during Hackathon 24h CodING. Its purpose was rather to highlight business benefits originating from the PSD2 directive. One of its consequences is an open access to transaction history for third parties - with the user's consent, of course.

Other apps created at Hackathon used those new capabilities to a smaller degree (e.g. ShoppING that used QR codes to facilitate shopping, or Bonding - which integrated Amazon's voice assistant with a bank account). Others, like LendIT, showed how start-ups could threaten traditional banking. The LendIT application allows users to lend money to one another. In this process, the bank plays the role of a verifying agent - it guarantees the borrower’s credibility. It is a new area for banks, but - at the same time - it poses a risk of reducing their significance.

The winner of Hackathon was the PubbING app, which optimizes the process of ordering beer in a pub - instead of waiting for a waiter or trying to get through the crowds to the counter, you can just place an order and pay in the app.