Alior Bank teams up with Uber
What banking has to do with transportation services? Apparently, quite a lot. Polish Alior Bank and Silicon Valley’s car transport company Uber have recently forged an alliance.
Alior Bank is household name in Poland, boasting a network of 800 branches and agents across the country and over 3 million clients. The company is active in the field of tech.
Alior Innovation Lab – a company division focuses on designing innovative banking solutions. The bank wants to be regarded as being at the forefront of advancement, always keeping up with the newest trends and building close links to the fintech sector.
The agreement between the two companies concerns exchange of services. Transportation will be available to Alior personnel, and in the future – to its customers, who will be able to order a ride through the bank’s mobile app.
This means the American company will get its first big corporate client in Poland. Uber drivers, on the other hand, will be offered special car mortgage terms. Both companies will also promote each other’s services.
Uber is present in Poland since 2014. The company presently offers its services in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań and Tricity metropolitan area (Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot). The launch of the application on the Polish market was met with some controversies, as some discontented taxi drivers to protest against unfair competition and even attacked some Uber cars, splashing them with paint.
Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection recently released an opinion on Uber and the company’s impact on Polish transportation market. The state institution stands at the position that the services do not affect consumers and their rights in a negative way and do not disrupt the market.
On the contrary, the presence of Uber and toughening of competition is likely to cause positive effects from the point of view of the clients, who are likely to experience better standard of service and lower prices.
Alior Bank last month announced it is going to merge with core Bank BPH, granting the institution a place in the top league of the Polish banking sector. The announcement was followed with a very successful issue of corporate bonds, arranged to finance the takeover.
The bank already cooperates with another multinational company, T-Mobile.
