In 2020 we have been realizing the Strategy of mBank Group for 2020-2023 titled "Growth fuelled by our clients". It has been adopted in December 2019. We have developed it as our response to the changes in the market and regulatory environment and the expected trends in the future.

We took into account, among others, economic prospects, technological progress, evolution of consumer behaviour and expectations, local constraints as well as internal conditions. Building upon the experience gathered during the implementation of the previous strategy, we confirmed that mBank Group’s mission and values continue to be valid under the new plan.

In the strategy for 2020-2023, we focus on 4 areas, corresponding to the key components of our business model:

As a bank, we will be growing organically by constantly attracting new clients (especially young and firms) and strengthening our position in the 30-45 age group. We will improve the retention of individual customers by developing products that anchor them in the bank at particular stages of their life cycle. In the corporate segment, we will shape our customer portfolio by anticipating trends and changes in the market environment, while maintaining a high diversification of exposures. We will expand our knowledge of customers in order to more precisely identify and satisfy their needs by constructing a personalised offer. In pursuance of the assumptions of empathy, we will communicate with our clients in an understandable way and distinguish ourselves by the transparency of the offer, including our pricing policy.

We will be constantly improving remote bank access channels and promote digital self-service. We will give the leading role to the mobile application, which will have the same scope of functionality as the Internet banking service, while contact center and outlets will play a supportive role. We will be developing the retail platform by supplementing it with value-added services and the offer of selected partners, including non-financial ones. Focused on providing convenience, ease and speed of use, we will build the best digital banking for corporations in Poland.

We will maintain the technological advantage in the financial sector. We will rely on agile interdisciplinary teams to design and deliver end-to-end solutions. We will modify IT architecture using industry best practices. We will increase the digital self-service of our customers while optimising our sales network. We will improve the operational efficiency of mBank by implementing automation on a large scale and simplifying processes.

We will ensure that the work environment and its organisation in mBank Group will foster efficiency, cooperation, high engagement and the creation of innovative solutions. We want to make managers think outside the box and inspire development, and employees who seek new solutions and take care of our clients. We will use technology to relieve employees from routine tasks and implement automated tools to facilitate compliance with regulations.

The ESG/CSR strategy has become an integral part of the document. As mBank Group, we intend to conduct our business in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. We want to educate, take care of the climate and the environment and promote prosperity.

Pillars of the strategy, main directions of development and mBank Group activities

In view of the dynamically changing business and regulatory environment, mBank Group will be monitoring and actively responding to market opportunities and threats. As a universal bank, we will provide a full range of products and services through all access channels. Our growth will be fuelled by new and existing, retail and corporate, clients. Therefore, we will remain focused on acquisition in the target segments and the development of long-term customer relationships. The key challenge for the coming years will be to maintain mBank’s market position in the conditions of unfavourable demographic dynamics.

In line with the market perception of our brand, we intend to be a modern, technologically advanced and friendly bank, which offers products that are understandable to the customer as well as fast, intuitive solutions. Due to the better use of data, the service will become more personalised. The transactionality will remain a key element of our development, as it is a space of daily, most frequent interactions between the bank and the customer. We will build our offer based on the mobile first paradigm, increasing the share of sales and services in the digital area. We want to be appreciated for our quality, professionalism, innovation, reliability and security. In our daily operations, we will take into account the aspects of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.

At mBank, „we are distinguished by people”, and their commitment, competence and work input are the foundations of our achievements. Therefore, we want to recruit and retain employees with a specific profile that match our values and challenges for the future. Adjustments to the organisational structure, promotion of internal transfers or projects implemented jointly by people from different areas will support the culture of cooperation within the Group.

In financial terms, we will focus on building the long-term value of the company, backed by a positive trajectory of the results. Our revenues will be growing faster than costs, translating into further improvement in efficiency. We intend to increase business volumes and our market share and at the same time take care of efficient use of capital. A change in the structure of the loan portfolio and the entire balance sheet will have a positive impact on core profitability. Our goal is to ensure a satisfactory return for mBank’s shareholders.

Key initiatives and business activities which we intend to undertake and execute in the horizon of this strategy have been grouped into 4 blocks:

1. Client (acquisition and long-term relations development)

Our main goals are:

We want to maintain our advantage in the acquisition in the segment of young people (aged 13-28 years) and start-ups, as well as a high share in the e-commerce market. Leveraging on the social role of parents who are mBank’s clients, we plan to faster enter into relations with persons aged 8-13. We will solicit the segment of professionals providing services for other entrepreneurs (e.g. accountants).

We want to systematically recognise the needs of our customers at every stage of their lives and satisfy them in the most appropriate form, so that they do not look for products and services in other banks. We will make the offer more attractive so that it includes aspects that are important from the point of view of accumulating funds and the challenges of ageing and inheritance. We will focus on the products anchoring the client in the bank, in particular mortgage loan, savings and investments.

We will focus our activities on increasing customer confidence. We intend to provide a sense of security with reliable technological banking solutions and services supporting data and financial security in the digital world. We want to act in a predictable manner and represent an uncompromising business ethics as well as eliminate waiting and unnecessary efforts of the customer. We will appreciate loyalty and personalize clients’ experiences.

The strength of our relational banking is trust based on advisors' competences and experience, therefore we will promote proactive attitude of our employees and we expect their involvement in understanding the customers' business. We intensify activities aimed at the development of knowledge and the flow of experience. As a bank we want to be useful and perceived as an efficiently operating part of the enterprise.

Preferred industries, in which we want to develop, include: e-commerce, renewable energy sources and businesses engaged in energy transformation, financing of automation and digitalisation solutions, new technologies, health care and leisure time industry. We strive to assure that our portfolio comprises companies with an attractive and prospective business profile. At the same time, we will continue to maintain a high diversification of credit exposures in order to ensure the long-term security of the bank.

We will communicate in a clear and understandable way, explaining the circumstances of bank’s decisions and providing the clients with all the necessary information. We will simplify the offer in each business line, including the price list and tariffs.

We will maintain the already existing positive associations with mBank and make up for certain shortcomings by adding attributes that we lack. We intend to rely more on the feedback provided by customers in order to excel the organisation in accordance with their expectations.

For over 6 years, we have been working on simplifying communication that we address to our clients and inside the bank. „mKanon” is based on simple and empathetic rules of communication at mBank. We introduced the first changes in departments that have direct contact with customers – call center and complaints. Then in communication on compliance, internal legislation and security. We have run hundreds of workshops and many development meetings with experts from outside the bank.

We achieve the economies of scale thanks to cooperation with a group of mKanon ambassadors (about 120 people), who educate and support colleagues in „friendly communication”. We are improving the IT tool that analyses written communication and proposes changes. In their e-mail box, employees can check whether the content of their e-mail complies with the principles of simple communication. We verify longer documents on a special website. In 2020, we started quality mini-audits in selected units. On their basis, we create a report with recommendations for given departments or divisions. We have replaced mass introductory training with smaller workshops that increase the competences of our employees in the use of mKanon. In this way, we worked with approximately 200 employees in over 30 workshops. Together with the Polish Language Foundation, we have started the process of certifying selected ambassadors who will play a key role in the communication management process. In 2020, ten people took part in it. In 2021, we will develop a model of cooperation with a group of certified ambassadors.

Together with one other bank, we initiated the establishment of a working group for simple communication within the Polish Bank Association. The result of this work will be the banks' declaration regarding simple communication and a set of good interbank practices.

We also support the culture of empathy at mBank by caring for customer loyalty and satisfaction. We measure them with the NPS (Net Promoter Score). On this basis, we identify the key reasons why customers recommend the brand to their friends and family. We research both corporate and retail clients in a relational survey and at individual touch points. In the NPS survey of retail clients, carried out by the KANTAR agency in the Q1 2020, we achieved a result of 17, which gave us the 5th position in the ranking. During the year, we improved our result – the result in Q4 2020 was 19, thanks to which we ranked 4th.

The confirmation of the high loyalty of mBank’s customers is the „Bank Customer Satisfaction Monitor 2020” implemented by ARC Rynek i Opinia. We scored second position in this ranking. In the NPS transactional survey, we recorded an increase in the NPS result from quarter to quarter in 13 out of the 16 tested touchpoints.

The NPS result among corporate and investment banking clients in 2020 was 41. It was higher by 8 points compared to 2019. Among the clients who declared mBank to be their main bank, the NPS result was even higher and amounted to 47.

We collect suggestions and customer ratings thanks to digital solutions. For three years we have been collecting feedback – „evaluate” – in the retail transaction service, where tens of thousands of customers share their opinions about our bank with us. In 2020, the „rate” system received 115,320 customer reviews, including 51,822 comments. We also use suggestions and assessments inside the organization – employees can evaluate and comment on quality of service on the helpline or after participating in training on the
e-learning platform.

We implement the design thinking methodology. It is a method of creating products and services based on understanding the problems and needs of users. We use it both with customers and employees in mind. What is important for us from the point of view of the strategy, the first step of this method is „empathization” – that is, gaining extensive knowledge about the client. At the bank, we have created a group of mDesigners – design thinking moderators who support projects with their knowledge and experience. We engage clients in interviews and workshops – in 2020, during such interviews, we spoke with over 250 clients. Last year, we moved stationary mLab to Clickmeeting, and additionally we created a virtual mLab, i.e. the possibility of collecting our clients' opinions during phone calls.

2. Platform (ecosystem, user experience)

Our main goals are:

The mobile application, equipped with the same range of functionalities as online banking, will be given a leading role in finance management, whereas contact center and branches will support remote channels and serve to solve problems. We will add digital assistance in the service model. We will accelerate the transformation of the distribution structure to reach an average of 80% of sales in digital channels (own channels and API) and 50% in mobile mode until 2023.

We want to use the transaction-related moments effectively for the contextual presentation of our offer of unsecured loans and their sales through mobile channels. We are striving to provide the most convenient and fast mortgage loan on the market. We will expand our offer through selective partnerships with the use of API and cooperation with mAccelerator fund.

Our guiding principle is simplification first and then digitisation. We want to retain only the necessary steps, data and documents. Our work will include improvement of customer contact channels with the bank (internet transactional platform mBank CompanyNet and mobile application), as well as internal sales, after-sales and credit processes (for K3 as well as K1 and K2 clients) and tools for advisors, including CRM system.

In 2020 we have introduced number of innovations to our platform. Key achievements are described in chapter Innovations.

3. Efficiency (operational)

Our main goals are:

We plan to expand our business-technology team, and interdisciplinary teams working within it will ensure a delivery of end-to-end solutions. We intend to migrate our key applications to a modern technological pile based on microservices and containers as well as fully release the potential of a public cloud computing within the framework of existing regulations.

We plan to implement a digital assistant and adaptive user interface in the mobile application and transactional service, which will allow for contextual customisation of the customer’s screen. We will improve customer experience in the inter-channel service process (omniservice). We will monitor the results of the branches and adequately adjust the size of the physical network and the format of the branches.

We will continue to intensively develop solutions that protect our customers, based on the latest technologies, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, biometrics and other.

The main activities assume: centralisation of operational processes, including their takeover entirely by specialised units, elimination of paper documents flow and the need to archive them, introduction of a unified methodology for managing operations, supported by a central measurement system as well as analytical and process engineering tools.

Legal support functions will also be organised according to „agile” working methods and based on new technologies. This will allow us to more effectively meet the growing number of regulatory requirements without paralysing our business.

The year 2020 was marked by further implementations in the Common Data Layer (CDL) platform, enabling us to expand the scope of data used in numerous projects. The aim was to support management processes at the bank in the business, risk and finance area. A single source of data facilitates analysis and decision-making for all employees and takes our effectiveness to a higher level. Last year the cooperation on the CDL platform made it possible to replace e.g. the accounting records for selected processes. We have been reconstructing the architecture of information systems. Thanks to works performed in previous years it was possible to turn off one of the systems – CRDD – as of end of 2020. Consequently, we reduced technological debt as well as the operating and maintenance costs.

In 2020 we also continued work on extending the data quality management system at the bank with active cooperation from data stewards. More precise measurement of data quality performed with the use of top market solutions helped us improve data quality, which positively affected our cost effectiveness and mitigated operational risks. The bank employees were given access to a dictionary of business terms, which makes their interpretations of data coherent across the bank and allows easy access to the information they need. In addition, we launched MIS Big Data, an innovative system offering a comprehensive insight into the bank’s business and supporting decision-makers. The system is powered by state-of-the-art technologies. The bank’s extensive management information infrastructure enables quick reaction to information needs. Moreover, it helps to adjust reporting to the ever-changing reality and make advanced analyses of large data volumes.

One of the greatest challenges that the IT area faced in 2020 was ensuring the bank’s continuity in the event of a COVID-19 threat. A natural solution to enable the employees staying at home to perform their professional duties under the restrictions introduced by the Polish government was to switch to the so-called home-office mode. The accomplishment of such an undertaking for nearly all bank employees (excluding the service of branches and necessary support employees) was the merit of IT and the Security Department. In record time, we conducted a risk analysis and an assessment of the efficiency of the access infrastructure, equipment demand and much more. The employees handling critical processes were the first to work in this mode and successively new teams joined them. Among comparable financial institutions, mBank was the first on the market to operate on such a scale in the remote work mode. We continue to use all introduced solutions in the face of a prolonged pandemic.

In 2020, we continued work to increase the bank’s operational efficiency. First of all, we focused on providing clients with access to the full range of our services, and employees with the freedom to work from home.

In 2020, our initiatives aimed at increasing the level of digitization of the area of ​​operations were recognized with the award in the Digital Excellence competition in the Operational Efficiency category. The jury distinguished the work of the mBank team primarily for the systematic and thus effective approach to implementing small changes that increase work efficiency and increase the automation of operational processes. The team involved in the work proved that creating the entire system is more important than implementing the technology. It includes processes, tools, and even incentives and rewards that build a culture of openness to change among employees.

As a result, in 2020 we improved operational processes by the equivalent of nearly 64 jobs. Without an increase in employment, we have handled not only new tasks in business areas, but also the growing volume of already implemented processes. The automation of operational activities was implemented by teams from all IT departments as well as business teams from the retail and risk area. The involvement of employees and the changes made resulted in savings of over 25 jobs (40% optimization).

Among the many initiatives and undertakings, it is worth mentioning the development of tools for central clearing, reporting (including the obligatory one under the SFTR regulation) and securities transaction security. We have also automated launch and repayment of loans using the mBank CompanyNet system, registration of loro payments for the needs of AML, or the process of transforming the client from the mass profile to Private Banking.

In addition, in 2020, we implemented a process mining class tool. Thanks to a thorough analysis of the processes based on logs from IT systems, it provides current information about the processes. It also allows to carefully monitor the effects of implemented changes. We embedded the tool in the bank’s infrastructure and connected it to the workflow system. It already covers over 30 processes from various areas of the bank.

In 2020, we also continued the development of the operational process quality system, by means of which we measure the quality and maturity level of the processes. Thanks to it, we also identify weaknesses and introduce improvements that seal gaps and, as a result, improve the quality of processes. It was appreciated at the „Highest Quality – Quality International” program. We were awarded with the Golden Emblem in the „QI ORDER” category for the Integrated Quality Assurance System implemented in mBank’s operations.

4. Employees and organisation culture

The people and culture we create are at the core of our organisation. Cooperation and sincere and empathic relationships allow us to create value that delivers results. We believe that the way we treat our employees, they treat our customers. We build a technology-supported work environment that inspires to be innovative. The main assumptions and targets for the HR area include 3 dimensions:

We want to coach smart managers who know how to inspire development and motivate to care about clients. Through strategic thinking, innovation and willingness to take up challenges, they will simplify and achieve the intended results efficiently. We will encourage employees to look for new solutions, automate processes and be open to technologies. We aim to make them empathic, collaborative and engaged. They are supposed to show a holistic approach to the customers to support them at every stage of their life cycle and to respond to their needs. Our employees will be honest and aware of current and new regulations.

We plan to increase work efficiency by providing the best applications, software and IT equipment. We will automate simple and repetitive tasks so that our employees can focus on key tasks and bring value, wherever it is important to build true contact with other people. We will implement RegTech solutions, which help to comply with procedures and regulatory requirements. We will use new HR technologies and predictive analytics to make informed decisions about investing in people.

We want to promote the particular value of feedback. On the basis of that, we develop and appreciate each other as well as build the culture of cooperation, which is the foundation of our organisation. We have a better understanding of the network of interdependencies and are able to work together. At mBank, we are open to other people, trust each other and believe in good intentions. We clearly show what attitudes and behaviours are expected from our employees, presenting simple and understandable values. We promote agile working methods, focused on breaking down hierarchical organisational structures and operating on the basis of a network of cooperating teams. We are implementing a transparent Objectives and Key Results system (OKR), linked to the strategic directions of the organisation. We will increase the diversity of characters, personalities, experiences, gender and age, which will help us to make decisions from a multilateral perspective and build better solutions.

These aspirations are part of mBank’s mission, which remains: “To help. Not to annoy. To delight… Anywhere”. Our employees identify themselves with a culture based on empathy towards clients, co-workers and corporate social responsibility.

We promote empathy in our organizational culture, in the mentality of our employees, as well as in processes and products. We make sure that our products and services meet four conditions in every interaction with customers. Those are:

  • responding to needs – we meet the real needs of clients, we solve real problems;
  • ease – we operate in a simple and friendly way, even imperceptible;
  • customer experience in line with the mBank brand – we create positive emotions in line with brand positioning. Our brand is an icon of mobility, we are always and everywhere with the client;
  • trust – we try to maintain a high level of trust and deserve it with every decision we make.

To help our employees better understand the bank’s strategy, we created Stopklatka. It is a collection of key, universal questions, including what the client has the right to expect from us and what cooperation within the organization should look like.

People are the basis for implementing the vision and employing empathy strategies. That is why we equip employees with knowledge and show them the desired direction of the bank’s development. The management board meets with employees in an open meeting every three months to comment on the results, discuss strategic projects and answer questions. During internships in other units, employees gain experience in places where the client „meets” the bank: in retail, corporate and contact center.

We build the organizational culture through change agents – ambassadors. We have approximately 80 ambassadors from headquarters, 30 from corporate branches and 40 from retail branches. This group cares for the proper understanding of the definition of empathy and its dissemination in their units. At least once a year, the ambassadors meet with board members, listen to speeches on strategic topics and cooperate in workshops. Inspirational guests participate in the meetings. In 2020 we summarized the activities around the empathy strategy. We invited the president of the management board and a guest to this meeting, who talked about how he built a customer-centric organization in the non-banking industry. Joint workshops allow us to better understand the operation of the bank as a whole and test new solutions on an ongoing basis. The ambassadors are happy to give the team responsible for customer thinking and empathy a perspective on what works well and what needs to be improved. We know that empathy is already in mBank’s DNA.

Three years ago, we created the position of an ethics officer at mBank. This person also serves as Managing Director for Regulatory, Legal and Customer Relations. She supervises the team that co-creates and is responsible for the coordination of ethical standards for the bank. She monitors the compliance of the bank’s operations with ethical standards and popularizes the subject of ethics among employees. The officer creates guidelines, gives opinions and supports employees in resolving ethical dilemmas. She is a member of the Unacceptable Behaviours Committee and represents the bank in the Ethics Committee of the Polish Bank Association. In 2020, we introduced changes to the Policy on counteracting mobbing, discrimination and other unacceptable activities, described in more details in chapter Policies and procedures. Employees can report irregularities – violations of laws, internal regulations or our ethical principles – to the Ethics Officer, as well as through the mSygnał (whistleblowing) abuse application.

More information about our activities for employees, which we implemented in 2020, can be found in chapter Committed employees.

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