As Filip Pavic/Novac writes on the 6th of July, 2020, apart from the fact that Croats turned to Croatian products from the markets during the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, they also turned to domestic financial applications. Thus, in the last ten days, Aircash, the first Croatian digital wallet, has unexpectedly taken to the throne of the most popular applications for paying and sending money in Croatia on both platforms, Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
This was confirmed by Hrvoje Ćosić, the co-founder and director of Aircash, stating that at the beginning of June they broke the magic number of 100,000 users in the Republic of Croatia, and during the lockdown they achieved three times more traffic through the application than usual. Thus, he says, they have caught up with the hitherto untouchable banking applications and the global competitor – Revolut.
”Over recent months, we used to get about five hundred new users every day. For example, in April alone, through the Aircash application, users realised almost 50 million kuna in various payments,” says Ćosić, adding that before the coronavirus pandemic, they had slightly less than 60,000 users and far more modest traffic.
The fact that Croats have had to digitise quickly financially in recent months is also evidenced by the fact that other applications that have typically remained at the top of the popularity charts in Croatia, such as KeksPay and Revolut, have also recorded user growth. Thus, Erste Bank’s wildly popular application currently has more than 130,000 users (in December 2019 they had 76 thousand), and Revolut confirmed that they are now circulating around the number of 100,000 users in Croatia (whereas back at the end of 2019 they had 70 thousand users).
As for the Croatian “mobile wallet” Aircash, which has been available on the domestic market for three years, Ćosić doesn’t attribute the lightning success and the doubling of the number of users during lockdown solely to the available options of receiving and sending money or paying bills, as they’re offered by an array of other banking applications too.
”Since the branches of the Croatian Lottery (Hrvatska lutrija) and Supersport were closed, Aircash was the only logical choice for payment and withdrawal. In addition to payments, customers were also able to withdraw their winnings, completely free of charge, at ATMs and other retail locations, which proved to be simpler and faster. Even now, we’ve noticed that people use the app for that segment equally, even though everything is now open again,” Ćosić noted.
When they introduced online gaming options within Aircash last year, and then a few months ago the option to purchase PlayStation vouchers, they didn’t even know how important entertainment would be for the isolation period. According to Ćosić, they were even surprised by the high demand for PlayStation vouchers, but it is somewhat understandable considering that all specialty stores were closed for two months.
Transfers from abroad
However, he noted, they aren’t building their business only on that segment. For the services they offer within the app, such as entertainment, games, ENC, parking, PlayStation and telecom vouchers, they don’t charge any fees. The payment of money to the Aircash wallet is also free, and the user will pay a fee for sending money (of a mere 1 percent) and for paying a bill, just 3.5 kuna per account.
”It’s interesting that our turnover in March and April grew in the segment of sending money, especially from abroad. Users from abroad could send money with one click, and the recipient could receive it immediately and withdraw it from an ATM. It is, in fact, an innovation on the Croatian market,” Aircash’s director explained.
What is innovative, he adds, is that to withdraw money from an ATM through Aircash, the user doesn’t have to have a bank card or even be a bank customer. They only have to have a mobile phone with them. By selecting the “ATM” option and the desired amount in the app, Aircash will generate a six-digit code which is then entered into the ATM and after verification, the ATM pays the money out.
The money can be withdrawn at all PBZ ATMs in Croatia, free of charge, and at INA fuel stations and at Tisak kiosks. The director added that they’re also thinking about introducing a payment directly to the user’s bank account, but there is still a disadvantage that such a transaction cannot be immediate. They also plan to introduce the possibility of withdrawing money at fuel stations and kiosks across all EU countries around Croatia.
By the end of the year, they plan to enable payment by Aircash in both physical and online stores, as well as via Google and Apple Pay.
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