OP-Pohjola launches a diverse mobile application for tracking personal spending

21 oktober 2013 The new Pivo mobile application shows how much its user has money and on which he spends it. OP-Pohjola Group has been gradually introducing the application to its customers since June. Now Pivo is available to all OP-Pohjola Group cooperative bank customers using a smartphone. The use of mobile phones in banking and insurance services has increased tremendously. During the last 12 months, the use of mobile phones among OP- Pohjola Group customers has more than quadrupled. After web banking, mobile banking is the second most popular way to do banking. OP-Pohjola has long been developing a variety of new services to respond to changing consumer needs. Pivo is one of those new services enabling its users to easily track their spending. The Pivo mobile application is free for private customers, which brings a feeling of managing daily shopping in a new way. It tells users to which they can afford and always keeps users up to date with their account transactions. Pivo users can check their account balance by only entering a code of their choice and monitor, for instance, how much they spend a month on groceries at their neighbourhood supermarket. Users can conveniently find information from Pivo on shops and services and their purchase history under a single service. Changing customer behaviour will challenge mobile services The Pivo mobile service was developed by the Oulu Development Unit established by OP-Pohjola in the autumn of 2011. One of the Unit's tasks includes surveying what consumers expect from future mobile services. OP-Pohjola will also continue to invest in the development of new services and products; for example, the Group's development budget for 2013 totals a whopping 150 million euros. - The results of the surveys highlighted the consumers' desire to monitor their status as loyal customers and their spending using their smartphone, with more ease. Based on customer feedback, OP-Pohjola took a bold initiative to create a new kind of shopping experience that brings benefits to both Finnish consumers and retailers, explains Hanna Äijälä, New Businesses, OP-Pohjola. - The positive and abundant feedback that is unusual when it comes to banking services has been a very pleasant surprise to us. We are also developing new Pivo features and services that our customers have suggested. For example, importing loyalty schemes to the mobile application and mobile payment number among the projects that we are highly determined to carry on on our customers' terms, states Kristian Luoma of the Oulu Development Unit. The Pivo mobile application is available to iPhone, Android and now also to Windows Phone smartphones. For more information, please contact: Hanna Äijälä, OP-Pohjola, tel. 010 2527179 Kristian Luoma, OP-Pohjola, tel. 040 7096790 This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Pohjola Pankki Oyj via Thomson Reuters ONE [HUG#1736833]