Opening a Bank Account at a Photo Booth in France
The French FinTech Anytime is running tests with Photo-Me International, owner of the Photomaton brand: some of their photo booths have been equipped with an account opening option from Anytime.
Where? A dozen photo booths in the Parisian region, including Gare du Nord, Châtelet and Saint Lazare.
Reminder: Anytime proposes bank-free accounts for both individual and corporate customers, the idea is to provide them with a means to aggregate their accounts, making them accessible and easier to manage from a single location. Anytime is a Treezor agent in France, and a Prepay Solutions agent in the UK. They have been granted EMI status in Belgium.
Customer process:
- Account subscription form filled out,
- Customer’s proof of residence and official piece of ID scanned,
- Customer’s picture taken at the photo booth to validate his identity (confronting this picture with his ID document),
- Contract signed on a touch screen at the photo booth.
Comments – Alternative subscription channels for FinTechs
Anytime has been trying to expand their distribution network from the beginning. This ambition accounts for these new tests: if successful, they could provide Anytime with a network of 28,500 photo booths in Europe. For now, only account opening procedures are concerned; the validation process remains manual and the account is formally open 2 days after the application is filled at the photo booth. The customer’s supporting documents first have to be checked upon. Once this step completed, he may load up his Anytime account, but he will again have to wait 2 days before making any payments and receiving his Mastercard card.
The FinTech will be assessing customers’ interest in this service, which, in time, could be enhanced to include cheque or cash deposit options, appointments via videoconference, or even negotiation processes when applying for loans. If the test phase turns out conclusive, they could plan other services.
This hybrid strategy merges online and in-store interactions. It is reminiscent of Nickel’s model since their offer still is paperless, even if the application procedure and part of the account management process can be handled in a brick-and-mortar location. Back in 2016, Anytime aimed for newsagents with a business account but did not manage to go beyond the initial pilot phase. Photo-Me, for their part, already started to make financial services available through their network. They won an award at the Trustech event in the end of 2017, and Moneygram allows their customers to transfer money worldwide from their photo booths.