“Accounts designed for the 21st century” is the main strapline of ipagoo, a Fintech startup that offers multi-country and cross-currency accounts. I was intrigued by this concept and decided to download ipagoo’s new iOS app and write a quick review:
My quick summary of ipagoo (before using it) — I expect ipagoo to offer services similar to the World Account that World First, the company I work for, launched a few months ago. The World Account makes it easy for customers to open accounts in specific local currencies, making it easy to receive and pay out in difference currencies.
How does the app explain itself in the first minute? — When I open ipagoo’s iOS app, the first screen is a login one. I’m somewhat thrown by this as I don’t have an ipagoo account and the calls to action aren’t as clear as they could have been.
After finding and tapping on “new to ipagoo?” I land on a screen which explains the different services that ipagoo offers:
- Accounts — Open and manage multiple accounts in different countries from your smartphone.
- Payments — Keep payments under control and manage counter parties from the app.
- Money Transfer — Move money between accounts instantly.
- Currency Exchange — Switch funds between currencies in real time.
Despite looking a bit clunky, the app does a good job in letting its users know at the start of the onboarding process about the documents required for a successful registration. There’s a clear explanation as to how take a geotagged selfie, and that users need to make sure their phones are enabled for geolocation (complete with short videos for both Android and iOS users). The two-factor authentication process ipagoo applies feels relatively straightforward and seamless; I validate my email address on my desktop, after which a “complete my credentials” screen appears on my mobile app.
However, I’m slightly daunted by the 6-step registration process and the proofs of my ID that I need to upload. The look and feel of the form isn’t compelling, and fields like “previous name(s)” make me wonder why these are necessary in the first place. I do upload my passport, but give up on the registration process when asked for a recent proof of address, a picture of myself with my ID and detailed info about my financial status. I realise that I simply don’t know enough about ipagoo and the benefits of using its services, so I decide to explore things further before deciding whether or not sign up.
Perceived benefits of ipagoo — I understand that ipagoo uses traditional banking services to provide its users with a single portal to all their bank accounts, standing orders, debit cards, etc. The ease of accessing multiple accounts and data through a single app should make life a lot easier for customers. Currently, people like me — with accounts and debit cards in different countries — are currently constrained in account access, and having to have multiple logins.
Points of differentiation (existing and future) — Whilst I believe the frictionless aspect of ipagoo will soon become a ‘hygiene factor’ (given that the likes of Curve and Varo Money offer a similarly seamless experience) in future, I expect ipagoo become more of a ‘financial hub’ for customers, using APIs and the opportunities that PSD2 offer. I wouldn’t be surprised if ipagoo do more to address cross-border payments, as well as traditional standing orders, bank transfers, etc. I was therefore pleased to see that some of these aspects are represented on ipagoo’s roadmap. What I didn’t see on ipagoo’s roadmap was predictive analytics and recommendations, being able to understand customer profiles and recommend other financial products accordingly.
Main learning point: I really like ipagoo’s proposition and see plenty opportunities for ipagoo to make the (financial) life of their customers easier. However, I do believe there’s a need to improve the onboarding and user experience of the app, before integrating new services. As it stands, there’s scope to simplify the app experience, making ipagoo a truly ‘sticky’ proposition for its customers.
Related links for further learning:
- https://www.ipagoo.com/services
- https://moven.com/solutions/
- https://about.holvi.com/
- http://www.bankingtech.com/277222/new-entrant-ipagoo-targets-businesses-with-pan-european-current-account/
- https://marcabraham.com/2017/05/22/how-psd2-is-set-to-change-banking-up-as-we-know-it/
- https://ibsintelligence.com/ipagoo-brings-borderless-banking-app-uk/
- http://www.thebanker.com/Techvision/Ipagoo-joins-the-EU-dots-to-beat-the-regulators
