FEDE DURAN MADRID

MADRID

Updated Thursday, February 29, 2024-16:43

Today at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, Abanca unveiled the launch of B100, a parallel project that operates as a kind of fintech and confirms the predisposition of traditional banking to soak up the innovative spirit of startups.

The brand was born with a powerful technological framework and is positioned under the umbrella of

healthy banking

, an Anglicism that encompasses two axes of action: people's health and sustainability.

The B100 app is now available for iOS and Android and is built around three accounts and a debit card.

At the client's disposal there will be a day-to-day account where payroll and invoices can be direct deposited, a savings account with several ways to set goals and paid at 2.7%, and a health account "which undoubtedly represents a disruption almost worldwide," explains

Jorge Mahía

, executive director of B100.

The latter works like this: the user sets a goal of daily steps in the bank's app and, if they meet them, a predetermined amount will be sent from the main account to the health account, which is remunerated at 3.40% APR.

In this way,

if the client walks or runs, thus fulfilling his commitment

to take care of himself, he is rewarded with what is currently the best remuneration that a private client can receive in this type of financial products.

The account has no commissions.

B100 clients also have a debit card (made with recycled plastic) that also has no commission and that incorporates a striking novelty: if for each transaction executed the bank charges an amount, 25% of the amount will be used to cover the work of Gravity Wave,

an Alicante startup that collaborates with 5,000 fishermen

and 70 Spanish ports in removing abandoned fishing nets from the sea with which they then manufacture furniture and raw materials.

Mahía clears up any hint of doubt.

"This is not greenwashing. Gravity Wave's blockchain platform [company in which the Gasol brothers have invested] allows the customer to know when and where plastic is collected and how their financial activity impacts the well-being of the planet."

500,000 clients

B100's roadmap involves achieving a customer base of 500,000 people by the end of 2026. The shot will focus on Spain, "but the vocation is international."

Mahía considers that the initiative has the great advantage of having the operational and financial support of Abanca and with a framework that in all other aspects is supported by the cloud.

The user experience, he notes, is very polished, "although B100 is just starting out and it is logical that things need to be polished."

The accounts do not hide tricks.

The money is available at any time "with no strings attached or conditions."

Likewise, B100 will complement the app with a telephone service to avoid the frequent frustration of trying to tell a machine about a problem of a (financially) human dimension.

Paradigm shift

The consulting firm 21grams has a reference study on the predominant dynamics in the market.

It is called Brands with Values ​​and thus describes the three types of existing consumers: there are, on the one hand, the reticent (those who do not believe that they should guide their purchasing decisions based on the idealism of the brand), the conscious (those who think the opposite of the first group but they do not decide to act) and the consequential ones (those who demand that companies have a positive footprint on society and the environment).

In just two years, the tribe of the consistent has gone from 26% to 46% in Spain.

The jump is notable and B100 is heading towards them.

"There are many brands that say they want to be loved; I go further: we want to be important in transparency, in impact and in taking care of the client's physical condition," emphasizes the executive director.