BNP Paribas collects tips by card thanks to a FinTech

BNP Paribas has just announced a new partnership with FinTech Heoh, a payment institution that obtained its accreditation in July 2018. Their joint work now focuses on the deployment of a card-based tip collection solution and further illustrates the potential of the partnership for the responsiveness of large groups.

FACTS

• BNP Paribas' professional customers will be able to benefit from its new cash solution developed in partnership with Heoh from the first quarter of 2022.

• This solution will allow waiters, restaurant owners and other hotel professionals to cash their tips (exempt from taxes and charges) directly on their Eftpos terminals.

• Customer journey: For the final customer, it will be possible to add a tip when paying the bill, by directly typing the desired amount on the compatible terminal.

• BNP Paribas and Heoh say they are still working on the final form that their joint service will take. In any case, the solution will be based on the systems developed by Heoh for collecting donations.

• The latter will be offered free of charge to BNP Paribas' restaurant customers.

CHALLENGES

• Keeping up with new uses: The health crisis has led to a drop in the use of cash (-23% of withdrawals in 2020) and a significant increase in contactless payments (+53% in 2020). Payment of tips by card is a logical evolution to suit new uses.

• Supporting restaurant owners: BNP Paribas is now emphasising its commitment to meeting the needs and expectations of its restaurant owner clients. In the wake of the health crisis, offering value-added services to facilitate their recovery is a competitive advantage that the French bank intends to capitalise on. The new offer currently being developed is also presented as a solution to lighten the administrative burden of restaurant owners.

• Relying on co-creation: The government's announcement concerning the tax exemption of tips in the hotel and restaurant markets for the year 2022 came at the end of last September. BNP Paribas now prefers to play the complementary card by partnering with a FinTech to counter the effects of inertia specific to large groups and quickly present an optimised offer.

• Extending a partnership: BNP Paribas and Heoh have already worked together, as in 2019, to offer the bank's employees the opportunity to make micro-donations to associations in a fast, secure and contactless way, from dedicated terminals.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• The launch of BNP Paribas and Heoh's joint solution will not be the first response of the French market to the new government decisions. A French start-up, Yavin, had taken the gamble of working ahead of this decision to integrate a tip application into its VSEs and to adapt in near real time to the measures for tax-free tips.

• However, this is not the first time that BNP Paribas has taken the initiative to change the way tips are collected. The bank has been offering a QR code-based solution with Lyf since last summer.