Lukas joins fray and rolls out online banking services
Lukas Bank, the booming loan company-cum-bank, has joined the handful of Polish financial institutions offering services on the internet.
When the Business Journal featured Lukas in a July 1999 cover story, the buzz among analysts was whether or not the bank, with friendly service and free coffee, would succeed in its transition from a straight lending institution to an all-around savings and credit bank. Would it lure customers from other banks? More to the point, would it sign up potentially profitable customers with disposable income to deposit? Most analysts, though, saw the right stuff in public-relations savvy Lukas.
In the past 12 months, Lukas has grown its customer base of savings-account holders 22-fold, from 5,000 to 110,000.
"Our customers came to us and asked for a current account," said Piotr Stepniak, Lukas' marketing director. Out of 110,000 current accounts, only 30% have been opened by individuals who already had loans from the bank 1.6 million people in all. The other 70% are "customers who just decided to test us based on our offers," he said.
And now, by aggressively pursuing, educating and training customers, Stepniak has a vision of turning Lukas' banking site into one of the best.
"It's something that we strongly believe in ... We aim to be in line with similar e-lending (sites), both in Poland and the rest of Europe," he said. "However, if you believe your offer is superior, then you have every reason to believe ... (your internet service) is going to be more successful."
Lukas will, through direct calls, mail-outs and other marketing methods, educate its client base about the advantages of owning a computer, Stepniak said.
Then they'll show them how simple it is to buy one. "We know how to sell and how to help people get goods, and we can finance those purchases," he said.
Lukas is currently in discussion with a number of computer firms over the possibility of doing sales tie-ins, he said.
But Lukas has bigger plans. Though Stepniak would not discuss specifics, he said the company will also be involved in training customers to use their computers. One day in the not-too-distant future, he said, digital interactive TV and Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) telephone banking will also be available in Poland, and Lukas Bank will be there too.
Older people whom Stepniak classified as those over 40 years old and who account for 50% of Lukas' customers with deposits should also find the training helpful.
Stepniak bought his Gliwice-based parents a home computer and gave them internet lessons. "They're my best example," he says. "They're in their 70s, yet they use the internet quite often ... They realize this is a huge opportunity for them."
As for future possibilities for Lukas Bank's web site, Stepniak raised the prospect of mortgages, car loans and other services. Arrangements with a handful of car companies and distributors are also in the planning stages, he said.
For the moment, though, Stepniak would not predict how many customers will eventually sign on to "lukas.pl" until at least a year has gone by.
"I think it will take a while," he admitted. "But then again, we're working on some programs to reach out to our customers."
Out of Poland's adult population of 29 million people, 1.8 million roughly 6% use the internet, according to a survey conducted by SMG/KRC Poland in December 1999. The same study showed that 5.9% of all Polish households have internet access.
