With the digital transformation, new business models and ideas revolutionizing people’s lives and the country’s economy have emerged. The person we interviewed is one of those who contributed to this. We have the chance to share this new episode of the IDP podcast with Thierry Kneissler, Co-Founder and Ex-CEO of TWINT, interviewed by Alain Veuve, CEO of Parashift!
Thierry Kneissler shares the behind-the-scenes story of the TWINT success and opens our eyes to the opportunities in the banking world regarding digital transformation.
TWINT is a mobile phone payment application. The application is used everywhere, and for everything in the supermarket, in the shops, in the transport, with friends, and even in the car parks. A real payment facilitator!
In a few figures, TWINT is :
- More than 200 million transactions per year
- 4 million active users
- 97% of the Swiss population is familiar with Twint
- 1 over 2 people in Switzerland use the application regularly
To get to the heart of the matter, we have divided the exchange into four main parts. Feel free to click on each to get directly to the information you are interested in.
Part 1
Who is Thierry Kneissler
Find out who is behind the man known as “Mister TWINT,” his background, experiences, and ideas.
Part 2
TWINT, a true success story
If the idea seemed a bit crazy initially, the online payment application TWINT has quickly become a real success. Indeed, with more than 4 million active users, it is now the leading payment application in Switzerland.
As Alain Veuve points out, you only have to go to a tiny cheese and hazelnut shop in the middle of the Swiss countryside to realize how successful the app is because, yes, even there, TWINT is very popular.
It all started in 2014 when Thierry Kneissler was working for PostFinance. He and some of his team members realized that until now, they could do everything with their phones except pay. The idea of a mobile payment application was born. In 2014, TWINT AG was registered in the commercial register. In 2016 its ownership changed, as beside PostFinance 5 other banks plus SIX became shareholders.
“TWINT is a positive story in the Swiss economy”.
Thierry Kneissler
In 2018, Thierry Kneissler left the TWINT adventure, but he is still known as “Mister TWINT.” He now dedicates his time to his consulting company “Kneissler Consulting” and creating new projects. In particular, he is the advisor to about ten startups.
Part 3
Digital transformation: What changes are seen in the startup world?
Although startups that are part of a global digital transformation have become increasingly popular in recent years, the fact remains that their development is no easier today.
If agility is the key to success, according to him, it is a buzzword everyone knows, but no one knows how to apply.
But the implementation is, above all, an obstacle. Getting customers to accept the change can also take a long time! As he explains, getting into this is extremely difficult. Everything seems clear and accessible once you have done it, but everything is complicated and costly when implementing it.
Banking is the sector in which he can testify to having seen a very recent change. At least in the industry, there are many opportunities because many remains to be done. E-banking is not part of the digital transformation but rather new applications with new business models that respond to a real need. At the moment, as he explains to us, there is a real potential to exploit the question of savings withdrawals!
Part 4
The startup scene in Switzerland
In the last 2/3 years, more people have entered Switzerland’s startup scene. However, the capital problem persists; the taxes are very high and cost a lot of money. The framework conditions tend to slow down the development of these new businesses.
He also notes that the Swiss startup market is relatively favorable to development once well established. However, opening up to the international market is still too marginal because too complicated.
To understand in more detail each theme discussed in this podcast, I invite you to watch the entire video (with the video is always better, but listening to a podcast while driving is not bad as well 😊)
Thanks to Thierry Kneissler for sharing his experiences and ideas on the subject.
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