Nuvo

What did it do?

Nuvo was a branchless banking brand launched in May 2014 by Yapı Kredi, one of Turkey's largest banks. Customers applied online without visiting a branch, contracts were signed via courier, and basic banking transactions could be carried out free of charge through the website and mobile apps. The target audience was young professionals and university students.

Why did it shut down?

Yapı Kredi decided to close Nuvo in April 2017. According to egirişim, a Turkish start-up news site, the reasons were the intense competition in mobile banking and the app's failure since 2014 to deliver the growth the bank wanted. Nuvo was up against similar digital banking brands such as Enpara and CepteTEB, as well as banks' own mobile apps such as İşCep. It is arguable that fee-free banking offered under a separate brand failed to differentiate itself sufficiently from the parent brand's digital channels; this assessment is an interpretation. Customers were attached to a branch and stayed with Yapı Kredi on the same fee exemptions.

The story

On 6 May 2014 Yapı Kredi entered branchless banking with a new brand called Nuvo. According to a Webrazzi report that day, customers could apply to Nuvo online only, without going to a branch. The necessary documents were signed via a courier who came to the customer, and the courier's whereabouts could be tracked. Basic banking transactions could be carried out quickly and at reduced cost through the website and the iOS and Android apps. The bank aimed to reach 300,000 active customers in the first year and 1 million within five years.

Nuvo's target audience was young professionals and university students. On its website the brand presented itself as a bank that “speaks your language” and highlighted the absence of transaction fees. But the market was crowded: QNB Finansbank's Enpara, TEB's CepteTEB and İş Bankası's İşCep app were all addressing a similar audience with similar promises.

In April 2017 Yapı Kredi decided to close Nuvo. According to egirişim, the reasons were the intense competition in mobile banking and the app's failure, since its launch in 2014, to deliver the growth the bank wanted. Nuvo customers were attached to a Yapı Kredi branch; their exemptions from account maintenance fees and from transfer and EFT charges were kept. According to Internet Archive records, the nuvo.com.tr address began redirecting to another address in summer 2017.

Nuvo's short life shows that digital brands spun out from within a large institution can end up in the parent brand's shadow when they fail to build a distinctive value proposition of their own. After three years the brand disappeared and its customers returned to the bank's main channels.

Lessons for founders

• A digital brand spun out from within an institution will not find its own space unless it offers a value proposition clearly distinct from the parent brand.
• Being free does not create loyalty on its own; rivals easily copy the same promise.
• If you set ambitious customer targets, track the interim metrics early and change course in time.

Sources

1. Yapı Kredi's step into branchless banking: NUVO (in Turkish) (Webrazzi, 2014-05-06)
2. Yapı Kredi decides to close its branchless digital banking app Nuvo (in Turkish) (egirişim, 2017-04-11)
3. Fee-free, mobile, branchless banking: Nuvo (archived copy, in Turkish) (Internet Archive, 2017-04-03)

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