As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, the Croatian Aircash app is a revolutionary way of sending and receiving money in the Croatians sense. It cuts out paying for a large number of services by making it available in one single click and bypasses all the shortcomings of banks, from standing in linse, entering numerous pieces of information and waiting for the money to “reach” the recipient.
Avoiding all of the headache that the often outdated process in banks cause has been offered by this Croatian app, which is otherwise the very first digital wallet and the country’s fastest growing fintech with more than 150,000 active users who have a monthly turnover of more than 150 million kuna.
As an electronic money institution (IES), the Croatian Aircash app is licensed by the Croatian National Bank (HNB/CNB) to operate in accordance with all laws of Croatia and the European Union. Today, they’re constantly among the top three apps in their segment on the Apple AppStore and Google Play Store, and recently Aircash was recognised by Huawei Croatia with its addition to the AppGallery store, which has 500 million active users per month worldwide, which Aircash sees as a great opportunity due to the large number of Huawei users in Croatia.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the number of Aircash users who were provided with contactless payment for various services such as sending money, paying bills, parking, telecom vouchers, the top-up of ENC devices and the like was only increasing. Aircash business manager Damir Smigmator says that 2020 has shown how digital wallets are becoming more recognisable because people want fast, secure and easy payment that guarantees privacy. Research shows that the transition to digital payment methods could lead to the re-establishment of balance in the global economy. The novelty they introduced to the Croatian market is the possibility for payment at PBZ ATMs without the need for accounts held there and without cards, which proved to be a big hit.
“In the Croatian Aircash app, the user requests a payment at a PBZ ATM, after which they receive a unique code (OTP – one time password) for the payment, which they then enter at any PBZ ATM and they can then securely withdraw that money. With all these locations, payment is possible to any bank account opened in a Croatian bank with one click from the app,” explained Smigmator. The average age of an Aircash user is around 30, and they’re especially proud because their mobile wallet is also used by older people too.
The Croatian Aircash app story started back in 201, when after the original idea came to be, the development and study of often complex CNB regulations began. Just one year later, they received a license from the Payment Institution (IPP). The quality of their service was then first recognised by INA, which enabled users to send and receive money with a quick payment throughout the Republic of Croatia, which at the time, stated Smigmator, was an absolute novelty on the market.
“We’ve noticed some shortcomings when it comes to IPP that have started to limit us when doing business, especially in the planned entry into the EU market. We concluded that we want to offer customers across Croatia and the entire EU a better experience, so we started a change in the Electronic Money Institution (IES), which we got at the end of 2019. As we grew in terms of our business, so did our number of employees. At the moment, there are 25 of us, we’re all highly educated and we like to say professional in the work we do,” said Smigmator.
In addition to INA and PBZ, they have established cooperation with many successful companies out there on the market, in various spheres of business. The Croatian Aircash app is readily available at all petrol stations in the country (INA, Tifon), at all Tisak and iNovine kiosks, users can buy Playstation and telecom vouchers for all teleoperators in Croatia (Telemach, HT, A1, Tomato and Bonbon) and much more. It is also interesting that almost 20 percent of their users don’t even live in Croatia, and most Croats who work and live abroad use Aircash to send money to their families or to pay for various bills and utilities.
Aircash is entering the EU market too, first to Germany, Austria and then to neighbouring Slovenia.
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