4Finance tells how it affects your plans

Salvador Calogero (in the photo), country manager of the company 4Finance, analyzes in the following interview of iProfessional the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and the measures of social containment to prevent its spread, in the “fintech” market

-Since the isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, on March 20, until now, how has this measure impacted your company? What measures did they take?

-Since the start of the mandatory isolation and bearing in mind that such a measure could be taken, taking into account what happened in our operations in Europe, we decided to move our entire operation remotely and thus be able to meet the demand and doubts of our customers.

One of the problems we found is that when the insulation began to govern in the first stage, the branches of Easy payment and Rapipago, which are the ones that many of our users use to pay their credits.

To help them and enable them to migrate to an electronic payment method in such a short time we work a lot in communication and education. For example, in many cases they did not know how to enter and generate the home banking key or make a transfer to another account.

As a consequence of this educational process, Average phone conversation times with users went from about 140 seconds to 240 seconds. However, this learning, which was often tedious for them, finally saw it as the opportunity to use it in other digital processes such as the payment of service bills, transfers to other people and companies and other queries that may arise from a process. digital approach.

-How has the market where your company operates in Argentina changed since the isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, on March 20, until now?

-What we observed was greater caution on the part of the users, especially for fear of not being able to assume the commitment assumed when requesting a loan. Keep in mind that a large majority of our clients are self-employed or do not have a formal job. But we also see that in a short time people turned to using electronic means of payment, which is a positive thing.

For example, since the beginning of the quarantine on Friday, March 20, face-to-face payment was reduced to 30%, while bank transfers increased to 50% and digital media reached 20%.

An analysis of historical customer behavior reveals that 60% used on-site payment methods to pay their loans (branches of PagoFácil or Rapipago), 30% did it through bank transfers and the remaining 10% through digital payments (Mercado Pago y Pago mi bills).

-What consequences in the short and medium term will the pandemic and preventive measures against it generate in your company and in the market where it operates in Argentina?

-In the immediate future, we will keep remote work for the entire operation and then evaluate to maintain this modality in some areas. In the medium term we see that there will be an acceleration and a drop in friction in the possibilities of doing complementary businesses and working together with other players and industries in the market.

I believe that there will be a consolidation of a market that is still in a process of fertilization and that is far from maturing. There will be a change of objective and business focus of some companies, opening to more products and services under the same brand (multiproduct).

-How do you evaluate the government response at its different levels (Nation, provinces, municipalities) to the consequences of the pandemic and the isolation in the market where your company operates?

-Given the particular circumstances of our country at economic and social level the action is appropriate. We acted on time and avoided making the same mistakes as Europe or other countries in the region.

-In the context of the pandemic and isolation, what government measures do you consider to be necessary in the short and medium term?

-In the short and medium term and focusing on the sector where I work, the Government would have to take advantage of this situation to accelerate structural changes and reverse the shortcomings that exist in the traditional financial system.

Situations such as those experienced on Friday, April 3, with the long queues at the banks To get cash, they showed how much work has to be done for greater education and financial inclusion.

It would also be good reduce intermediaries This will help lower costs and bring together all the players in the market to work together to come up with better solutions. In this new context, fintech companies can contribute our knowledge, responsiveness and help project a better future.

Profiles

4Finance is a global digital finance group for online and mobile consumer loans that started operations in 2008 in the European market and has a presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, with more than 8 million clients in 16 countries.

He arrived in Argentina at the end of 2015 with his product Vivus.com.ar, through which he offers short-term microcredits that can be accessed through the Internet from anywhere.

Salvador Calogero He is a systems engineer, graduated from the Universidad Abierta Interamericana (UAI) and has an MBA with a focus on finance from the Universidad de San Andrés. In 2010 he completed the Advanced Management Program Blended at IE Business School (Madrid). He has more than 15 years of experience in information technology, financial and fintech companies.

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