Savings concept for young bank customers wins bachelor thesis award
Three Digital Media and Design students at the IT University of Copenhagen have received FA's bachelor thesis award for a project, in which they developed a digital concept in the form of a savings app for young bank customers. The honour comes with a DKK 30,000 prize.
Digital Design DepartmentEducationdesignfintech
Written 9 November, 2017 10:53 by Vibeke Arildsen
Catching the attention of young people can be a challenge for banks. At the same time, many young people find it difficult to manage their finances. So in their bachelor project, Digital Media and Design students Regitze Breddal Puck, Amalie Talli Panton Martelli and Julie Freudendahl set out to create a solution that could help banks to appeal to a younger audience.
The thesis 'Digital Concept Development within the Banking Industry Focus on Young Adults' resulted in SaveUp - an app concept that helps young people save up money by setting specific savings goals, for instance for a trip to Thailand or a nice dinner with friends.
This concept impressed the panel of judges consisting of IT specialists from the banking and insurance industry and ITU professor Roman Beck.
Amalie, Julie and Regitze’s idea for an application that will help young people to save up money for specific purposes hits the target.
Mariane Dissing, CEO of FA
"The financial sector is constantly moving towards new ideas that make life easier for customers. Amalie, Julie and Regitze’s idea for an application that will help young people to save up money for specific purposes hits the target. It's simply a very good idea. But not only that. In addition, Amalie, Julie and Regitze managed to make their idea concrete and feasible by keeping a consistent commercial and customer-oriented focus. For this reason, they are receiving our bachelor thesis award," said Mariane Dissing, CEO of FA (Danish Employers’ Association for the Financial Sector), at the award ceremony, which took place on Thursday at Finance IT Day at ITU.
User involvement is important
The students developed the app concept based on both market analyses and interviews with young bank customers.
"We started out by investigating very broadly how young people interact with their bank, what devices they prefer using, and what needs they have. Based on our user surveys, we found that an app-based savings concept was desired by the users and commercially viable for the bank at the same time," explains Regitze Breddal Puck.
The award was handed over by Mariane Dissing, CEO at FA.The three award winners are hoping that the award can help to increase the focus on how a design approach can create value in the banking sector.
"We are very happy and proud to receive the award and hope it can help to emphasize the importance of user involvement when making new designs, rather than just making decisions based on assumptions," says Amalie Talli Panton Martelli.
It is the fourth year in a row that FA gives the award to the best ITU bachelor thesis with relevance for the financial sector.
Vibeke Arildsen, Press Officer, phone 2555 0447, email viar@itu.dk