Banco de Sabadell S A : Sabadell to provide home insurance service via WhatsApp

• Banco Sabadell has created a pioneering service that includes both customer care and proactive messaging to highlight key aspects of insurance, as well as tips for prevention and protection.
• The service has already been made available to some home insurance customers through pilot testing, and over the next few months it will be rolled out to all remaining customers who have taken out insurance with Bansabadell Seguros Generales.
• Banco Sabadell continues to drive forward its digitisation strategy, which will enable it to be closer to its customers. Online messaging is the service most widely used by smartphone owners and WhatsApp is their preferred app, used by 92% according to data published by the National Commission on Markets and Competition (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, or 'CNMC').

Banco Sabadell, through its broker Bansabadell Mediación and its insurance subsidiary Bansabadell Seguros Generales, has launched a WhatsApp service aimed at its home insurance customers. The service has already been made available (by invitation) to some insurance holders through pilot testing, and in the next few months it will be rolled out to all remaining customers who have taken out insurance with Bansabadell Seguros Generales.

It allows the bank to offer a value-added home insurance service that has been adapted to WhatsApp. This online messaging service is the go-to digital communication channel for 92% of smartphone owners, according to data published by the National Commission on Markets and Competition (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia, or 'CNMC').

This is a pioneering service that customers can use to contact a team of experts with their queries and questions regarding insurance coverage, or to carry out certain actions in relation to their insurance. It also sends users useful information on key aspects about insurance as well as tips for prevention and protection.

A digital channel with clear advantages

Banco Sabadell's commitment to online messaging will allow it to establish a new model for interacting with users in order to add value to their day-to-day lives and offer them fluid, speedy and straight-forward communication whenever they need it.

WhatsApp chats are encrypted, meaning that the bank and users will be able to communicate with complete confidentiality, with the added advantage that they will be able to keep a record of their past conversations in a single place where they can look through them at any time. The service provided via WhatsApp will complement the other channels currently used by the bank and it will add to the bank's omnichannel strategy.

Commitment to digitisation and innovation

Banco Sabadell is steadily driving forward its digital transformation, adopting new technologies and developing products and services that have been adapted to new communication channels. By offering this service through WhatsApp, the bank is meeting the needs of its customers, offering them convenience, accessibility and security, while being by their side every day.

The service is the result of a collaboration between InnoCells, Banco Sabadell's digital innovation hub, and Bansabadell Seguros Generales, its joint venture with Zurich. The innovation team conducted an in-depth ethnographic study in order to understand the relationship between users and their home insurance and to offer a value-added service that will contribute to an improved user experience.

Pol Navarro, General Manager at InnoCells, explained: 'This new service brings together two aspects that are key to driving forward Banco Sabadell's digital transformation: the speedy and collaborative design and rollout of innovations and a closer relationship with our customers, moving personal relations into a digital environment'.

Claudio Chiesa, General Manager at Bansabadell Seguros Generales, added: 'Users generally only deal with their insurance if they need to, for example, if they have had an accident or need to renew their policy. What we want to do is to better understand what our users actually need so that we can be by their side at all times, providing them with relevant, up-to-date information through the communication channels they feel most comfortable using.'