BAPR Hub, the digital ecosystem for Banca Agricola Popolare di Ragusa customers

In a continuously and rapidly evolving world, Banca Agricola Popolare di Ragusa increasingly embraces digital innovation to present itself as a point of reference for its members and customers, integrating a catalog of innovative services into the traditional banking offering.
Among the investment priorities for banks [1], digital evolution is a primary objective to intercept and respond to changing customer needs. The continuous change in socioeconomic and geopolitical scenarios has represented an accelerator in the transformation of the purchasing habits of businesses and individuals, making them increasingly aware of the opportunities offered by the digital world.

The strategic approach to the evolution of BAPR aims to combine the physical presence in the territory with the strengthening of direct and digital channels. Two factors that represent the strong point for the largest entirely Sicilian bank, firmly rooted on the island, and which coexist giving life to a model pinchwhere physical and digital intertwine in the Customer-Bank relationship seamlessly.
All this allows BAPR to enjoy the maturity necessary to start a revolution in the way the Bank does and lives, strengthening its role as a partnership with the customer, not only for the offer of banking, financial and insurance services, but also as economic and social point of reference for the sustainable development of each family and business in the area.

It is in this context that the BAPR Hub ecosystem was born: a digital agora where the Bank’s members and customers can find a qualified and selected offer of value-added non-banking services and at advantageous conditions. In particular, it is possible to find innovative solutions that leverage the most modern technologies (including Artificial intelligence, Cloud, Blockchain, machine learning) offered by partners selected directly by the Bank.
A digital showcase designed to guarantee a secure and integrated experience with the Bank’s Internet Banking platform. BAPR Hub is not a simple one marketplace: consistently with the service model phygital of the Institute, in fact, makes use of the support of branch managers and consultants capable of intercepting customers’ needs and directing them towards the platform service/partner most suited to their needs. Furthermore, it is a constantly evolving ecosystem that is based on the continuous enrichment of new partners and on a model digital open of sharing and satisfying needs between customers and partners of the Bank.

The main assets of the ecosystem are the aggregation of services, an intuitive, user-friendly platform and no frills which allows customers to easily navigate through the different services available, without the need to visit multiple sites or use different apps; customization, offering features designed for various customer targets; dedicated assistance, with the presence of integrated channels to support users in the service selection process.
The commercial partners included in the ecosystem were identified among those who can best satisfy the main needs of the Bank’s various target customers and identified both among the local excellences and among those present on a national scale, with the aim of providing customers a real competitive advantage.

Through BAPR Hub you can purchase services such as company management software, systems for simplifying international exports through the digitalisation of CRM, subscriptions to consult the most recent subsidized finance tenders, device which, thanks to artificial intelligence, monitor crop data, allowing the main processes for companies in the agri-food sector to be automated; systems for comparing offers from the main players in the energy and telephony supply, entertainment and services sectors leisure.
BAPR Hub is designed to be open to the entry of new partners in a virtuous model in which the Bank’s customers themselves can be counted among the platform’s partners. Banca Agricola Popolare di Ragusa demonstrates once again that it is attentive to the needs of its customers and oriented towards supporting the socio-economic growth of the area.

[1] Fonte: Digital Banking Maturity Report di Deloitte 2023