OUR INNOVATION JOURNEY — HOW WE CONTINUE TO INNOVATE
2024-04-22 13:25:02.0
Innovation is at the heart of what we do at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK.
Last year, we celebrated our 50th anniversary and since then we’ve been looking back on the journey that has taken us from providing finance as Selfridges Finance Limited to being recognised globally as a leading finance provider, supporting millions of customers.
To mark World Creativity and Innovation Day, we want to reflect on our innovation journey — past, present, and future.
Innovation in the past
Since launching back in 1973 as Selfridges Finance Limited, we’ve been on quite the journey to become one of the market-leading finance providers in the UK.
With retail embedded in our DNA from the very start, we adapted our operations and developed into a store card business. In the mid-1990s, we expanded our offer by issuing retail credit cards for a number of household brands. From here, we were able to evolve our offering to better serve the needs of our partners and customers.
This ability to adapt to change was integral to our growth as a business, enabling us to become the first retail financial provider to enable mobile top ups at ATMs, allow customers in Selfridges to make a purchase via an SMS in 2003, and much more.
Innovation in the present
To continue this trajectory of growth and build on the success of the last 50 years, we recognise the importance of embedding innovation in every area of the business.
From IT to risk management, from marketing to customer support, innovation has a huge role to play in how we continue to transform the customer experience and meet the needs of our customers, partners and colleagues.
In recent years, we’ve partnered with other leaders in the tech and financial services sectors in order to supercharge our innovative practices by embracing new technologies and putting our customers at the forefront of our operations.
In fact, we’ve just launched the next iteration of our fintech incubator programme with SuperTech and STEAMhouse — The Innovation Lab. As part of this programme, we’ll be collaborating with eight fintech companies across the UK to address this year’s business challenge, focusing on how harnessing external data and insights can enhance engagement with customers in the financial services sector.
As the programme progresses, this new cohort will collaborate with colleagues at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK to develop tangible solutions to this year’s challenge that will be demonstrated at an upcoming showcase event in May during our Innovation Week — a week-long event dedicated to highlighting innovation across the business.
Innovation in the future
To continue to pioneer and adapt to changes in the finance services sector, we are looking ahead to see how we can continue to drive innovation over the next 50 years.
Richard Newland, Chief Customer Officer at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, shared his thoughts: “At BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, we want to make sure that the solutions and service we’re offering is one that is adapting to meet and exceed the needs of our customers, something which we’ve excelled at over the last 50 years.
“Moving forward, our ability to innovate is what is really going to set us apart from other service providers. We’re on a journey to create a seamless customer experience and I’m particularly excited about the impact that the Creation Finance App is having in this area, enabling customers to use the app to manage their finances — anywhere, anytime.
“As we push forward with our 2025 plan, we’ll be embracing new technologies and developing new partnerships which will ensure we remain at the forefront of innovation in this sector.”
Find out more about our work and vision here: https://www.bnpparibas-pf.co.uk/about-us/