11Onze website wins a prestigious award
11Onze has won the renowned Vega Digital 2021 Award for the best website in the field of social networks. The award highlights the essential role of digital pioneers such as 11Onze in a constantly changing context.
Of the 1,392 entries submitted, 11Onze won first place for its innovative platform, which brings together a financial community of thousands of people who share an interest in the financial world. The design of the website was led by 11Onze’s Art Director Laia Gubern and her team, in collaboration with WONDR, a globally successful digital product development agency based in Ireland.
11Onze CEO James Sène has warmly welcomed the award. “We are delighted that our efforts and vision have been recognised by industry experts. Financial education remains a key pillar of 11Onze. We believe that an informed customer base using innovative services can build strong communities that will invest in projects for a sustainable future,” he says.
11Onze is the first community-based financial technology in Europe to offer financial education and wealth creation services to its members. The fincom fills a gap in the fintech sector with a private network organised around La Plaça; its own currency, Les Peles; the super app El Canut; and an extensive library of informative and educational content on finance, economics, wellbeing and sustainability.
More than 2,000 pieces of content
To date, 11Onze has published more than 1,212 videos and 1,131 posts in three languages. The platform has been a great success in the community, attracting more than 10,000 members and a participation rate of more than 96%, and this October has exponentially increased its impact on social networks. Just this week, the leading WordPress platform has highlighted the 11Onze platform as an exemplary case.
“We are very proud of the collaboration with 11Onze, because we believe that this platform is fulfilling the promise of being a Catalan fintech community, with soul and purpose. Judges from all over the world have been able to see it first hand. 11Onze is a very genuine and compelling proposition,” WONDR founder Diarmuid Ó Sé says.
The Vega Digital Awards is an international body that recognises and honours the exceptional performance, talent and effort of the best digital professionals and agencies from around the world. Judged with absolute independence by renowned digital professionals, the categories honour websites, videos, mobile apps, animation montages, marketing work and podcasts.
11Onze is becoming a phenomenon as the first Fintech community in Catalonia. Now, it releases the first version of El Canut, the super app of 11Onze, for Android and Apple. El Canut, the first universal account can be opened in Catalan territory.
Starting this Monday, we begin a new batch of courses in the Learn section. Because at 11Onze we are well aware that we need to educate ourselves to empower ourselves financially, here’s a summary!
Our community is committed to financial education. Having good financial literacy allows us to take out insurance policies, save money, know how to read utility bills or pay slips and understand the small print in contracts. In short, it makes our financial independence possible.
That’s why every Monday we will be launching more lessons, each one with three videos. We start with a course on collaborative economy, taught by agent Coral Santacruz, but we will publish many more. Specifically, on ETFs, renting, crowdfunding, the European Central Bank, basic income, automation and economic oligopoly.
Remember that, when you finish each lesson, you can take a quiz on the knowledge you have learned and earn ‘peles’.
“We are very happy to see how traditional financial institutions are signing up to the change of narrative proposed by 11Onze,” says Toni Mata, 11Onze’s content director. In the magazine L’Estat de la Nació, he acknowledged that since 11Onze opened La Plaça, transparency, financial education and people have been the focus of the financial sector.
The content director explained that 11Onze has indeed come to make a “completely different proposal for the country”, because it’s time to stop delegating important decisions to financial institutions that we don’t really know what they do. “It is enough that, all of a sudden, a quarterly commission of 60 euros appears in your account, or that you have to contract the products that the entity tells you, or that you have to assume a debt of the banks of 60,000 million euros that will never return and that has cost 1,250 euros to each citizen, counting the children,” he says.
It is in this sense that 11Onze is committed to financial education, to provide all the financial tools so that each client and the community can make the most appropriate decisions. “We are here to benefit the economy of Catalonia. If we want different things to happen in this country, we can’t continue to do the same things,” Mata defends. And he argues: “The economic world is changing very quickly. And the people who promoted 11Onze from the beginning had the vision that fintechs would replace traditional banking and saw the great opportunity that this meant for Catalonia.”
In a country of thousands of associations and SMEs, of people who organise themselves, a community fintech like 11Onze, a large ‘do it yourself’ platform, was more necessary than ever. “At 11Onze we accompany. They tried to convince us that managing your own money is very complicated and, don’t worry, we’ll do it for you. But we can manage it ourselves,” the content director says.
“To be apolitical is to support the status quo”
Transparency is the basis of respect
Mata also considers that in Catalonia “illusory tales have done a lot of damage” and is surprised that anyone could think that other financial institutions are free. “It’s a lie! Perhaps we should start treating each other like mature people, not to lose respect for each other. What is free nowadays? Nothing, because services cost money. We explain what our prices are: opening an account with 11Onze costs 2.95 euros a month… We speak clearly and give the tools to audit our work or that of other financial institutions,” Toni Mata continues.
Precisely because of this uncompromising transparency, he believes that 11Onze is disliked by “certain powers”, but this, he says, is a clear sign that the fincom is doing things right. “We are very clear about what we have come to do: to create a community of users based in Catalonia who can help each other and invest profits in Catalonia. We know what happened on 1 October. In this country, many financial institutions left, many others that did not leave now declare themselves apolitical, and today to declare oneself apolitical is to support the status quo,” he concludes.
11Onze is becoming a phenomenon as the first Fintech community in Catalonia. Now, it releases the first version of El Canut, the super app of 11Onze, for Android and Apple. El Canut, the first universal account can be opened in Catalan territory.
It has only been a week since we launched the new ‘11Onze at home’ customer service and the reception has been a success. The agents have been able to resolve queries efficiently and have been able to talk to customers without rushing. “It’s a fantastic tool,” the head of agents Mireia Cano summarises. And you, have you already made an appointment?
“Seeing each other face to face has brought us closer to our community, and brings a more human quality to the conversations,” Cano explains. To resolve doubts about which documents to upload, how to take a selfie or which button to click to open El Canut, it is an effective and quick tool. “The agents are happy with this new form of customer service and many of those who have not yet taken part are keen to try it out,” she says.
After one week, the assessment is undoubtedly positive. More than a dozen La Plaça users have been able to meet the agents via video call. “Most of the visits have been from people who, despite knowing about the project, were not sure what we could offer or how to register,” she explains. However, the response has been positive in all cases. The head of agents admits that “everyone has been grateful to have a person on the other side of the screen.” Despite some minor hitches in the operation of the video call, those who wanted to make an appointment have been able to do so without any problems.
Do you have any doubts you don’t know how to solve? Ask for an appointment!
Once on the web, click the button ‘Reservar 11Onze a Casa’.
Choose a day and time to make the video call.
You will receive a confirmation email with your appointment.
And ready! That day at that time, we will meet on the screen.
A service that is here to stay
As soon as the customer arranges the visit, an e-mail is automatically sent with confirmation of the event, the agent who will attend and the link to connect to the video call. At the agreed time, if the customer has not been able to connect, the appointment is cancelled and a new email is sent with the cancellation notice and how to request a new consultation. “‘11Onze at home’ service is here to stay, and we will continue to visit anyone who needs it. Through the link, they will always be able to make an appointment a week ahead,” Mireia Cano says.
“We are a team of good people who believe that a country tool is needed.” This is how Xevi Esteve, head of customer service at 11Onze, summed up the tireless work done by the agents to serve the entire community. In the magazine L’Estat de la Nació, Esteve also explained how the new ‘11Onze at home’ service works.
“We wanted to combine the advantage of technology with the human factor. Because the human factor is extremely important. In Catalonia, we have the tradition of the savings banks, but over the years this has been lost. And we wanted to give it a human face,” explained the head of customer service at 11Onze. Thus, in addition to the personalised attention provided by agents 24/7 by chat or telephone, video calls are now being incorporated through ‘11Onze at home’.
In fact, Esteve explained that the idea arose when 11Onze realised how, with the pandemic, many people have become accustomed to using video calls, which allows for a “more sincere interaction.” So, after making an appointment, on the agreed day and time, people will talk to an agent for between 20 minutes and half an hour to resolve all their doubts. The agents’ aim, it is clear, is also to provide financial services in Catalan and to serve the country. “We are a team of good people who believe that we need a tool for the country,” he said.
“The human factor for 11Onze is very important”
A necessary process
Esteve has detailed that the first doubts have been mainly related to the verification process of the application, El Canut. However, the difficulties are due to the desire to ensure that all the customer’s private data is highly protected. “We ask for patience from our customers. People are just starting to get started with the application and it is true that we have received complaints, because the process is hard. But for us technological security is paramount. So, yes, we know it’s hard, but it’s in everyone’s interest,” he argues.
Even so, in general, the 11Onze customer service manager is encouraged by the reception El Canut has had among customers and the good predisposition. “We detected that people are angry with the banks and now, with 11Onze, they feel a little more hopeful. And we would like to run faster. But we have to play it safe,” Esteve sums up. The challenge now is for the two legs of the fincom, the fintech and the community, to grow at the same pace, slowly but surely.
11Onze is becoming a phenomenon as the first Fintech community in Catalonia. Now, it releases the first version of El Canut, the super app of 11Onze, for Android and Apple. El Canut, the first universal account can be opened in Catalan territory.
Can you imagine your financial institution helping you when you have doubts directly from your home? This is what 11Onze will do with the new ‘11Onze at home’ service. We will guide you through the process of contracting products and all the formalities. Because 11Onze is home, and we want you to feel that way, too.
“We are a fintech community, a fincom. That’s why technology is part of our DNA and we are constantly looking for and reviewing all the tools with which we connect with our community,” the head of agents Mireia Cano explains. It is precisely with this motivation that the ‘11Onze at home’ service was born. The service will offer the support of an agent at home via video call, and will resolve all the doubts you may have.
‘11Onze at home’ is a necessary service, because it opens up a new face-to-face communication channel, in addition to chat, email and calls. It will be especially useful for people with accessibility problems. The video call allows an almost face-to-face experience, in which the conversation can be more fluid. In addition, we will gain agility, because the service will allow the customers to share what they see on their mobile, and the agent will be able to guide them step by step.
In fact, 11Onze’s new service comes ahead of the draft law on customer services approved by the Spanish government just this week. With this new regulation, consumers will be able to demand to be attended by a person and not a machine. It also limits the response time to a complaint and the waiting time for a call.
“We know that doing financial transactions often requires a greater investment of time than many of us would like. If we can resolve your queries, or help you with a contract in just 15 or 30 minutes, why spend more time?,” Cano sums up, who reiterates that 11Onze wants to “offer personalised attention, without queues and without leaving home.”
11Onze at home
Booking is very simple
But how will the service work and how will it be possible to receive help at home? “Receiving a visit from an 11Onze agent at home is very simple: all you have to do is arrange a visit, selecting the day and time you want to make the call,” the head of agents explains. We will automatically receive a confirmation email with the booking information: day, hour, assigned agent and link from where to connect. When the moment of the visit arrives, you simply log on to the link and start the visit. If you need to cancel or reschedule the booking, you can also do so from the same email.
“We hope to reach out, help, share and improve the customer experience. The service is focused on anyone who needs help, but especially on those who have difficulties with technology and need special attention,” Mireia Cano explains. Now, beyond guiding our community by phone or email, the 24/7 attention of 11Onze will add a visual guide and the company of an agent.
“Any country needs a strong financial institution and we aspire to do so,” 11Onze’s chief financial officer Oriol Tafanell says. In the interview on Teve.cat’s L’Estat de la Nació, he also explained why it is so important to create a fully digital fincom to achieve financial independence.
Just for starters, Tafanell highlighted 11Onze’s differentiating feature as the way it deals with customers. “It has nothing to do with traditional banking. More than serving customers, we accompany a community on an adventure. And this means welcoming and helping in any way we can,” he said. Therefore, the first step for anyone who wants to join the 11Onze community is to become a member of La Plaça. After that, they will have to download our super app El Canut, through which “not only can you manage your account, but you can also incorporate other accounts with other entities in a single space.”
“We have just launched and, from now on, we will be launching more products, such as cryptocurrencies, ETFs, i.e. investment packages, but always putting transparency first. For us, there is no small print. We have the prices very well explained. Let’s not fool ourselves, there is no such thing as free services,” the chief financial officer argued. Tafanell also stressed that 11Onze is a fincom, a community fintech.
“At 11Onze we were born digital and we do not work like traditional banks, but, as we are a fintech, we work with electronic money institutions. These entities are highly regulated by the European Union,” Tafanell says. In fact, the money that remains under the umbrella of these entities, the so-called EMIs, is 100% insured, because it does not form part of the financial entity’s balance sheet, as it does in traditional banks. EMIs cannot invest with our savings either. “It is money that is very well protected,” the chief financial officer says.
“11Onze born digital and to support the country”
A solvent project linked to the country
“When we have a Spanish licence, we will be under the influence of the Bank of Spain, but this is not our case. We are offering people to diversify their money in IBANs in different EU countries. We have started with Bulgaria, because it has a more solvent central bank than the Bank of Spain and we work exactly the same way with it,” Tafanell clarifies in response to possible doubts about the security of having savings outside Spanish reach.
“Our project is closely linked to Catalonia, because any country needs a strong financial institution. When we achieve this, and this is what we aspire to, we will do many more things,”the chief financial officer said. For this reason, 11Onze has a five-year service plan. “Our great aspiration is to be a community fintech, where people help each other,” Tafanell concluded.
11Onze is becoming a phenomenon as the first Fintech community in Catalonia. Now, it releases the first version of El Canut, the super app of 11Onze, for Android and Apple. El Canut, the first universal account can be opened in Catalan territory.
For months we have been explaining what we are and why we are like this. It all responds to an idea: that Catalans can build our financial sovereignty. And, in the end, distilling and distilling, we have taken the shape we want: we are a community fintech, a fincom. And this model is a pioneer in the world.
Are there traditional banks? Yes, and we know how they work, that’s why we’ve dedicated a series of podcasts to protect ourselves from bank abuse. Community banks? Also exist! 11Onze President James Sène has often talked about how we have taken the example of African-American community banks in the United States. If you want to learn more about community banking, you can do so here. That fintechs already exist? Of course, they are an alternative model for the future, from which we have incorporated many ideas. But, in the world, 11Onze is a pioneer.
That’s why we needed a new word to explain ourselves: “fincom”, the contraction of fintech and community. And what does it mean to be a fincom? Imagine that we are like a small town, with a community of neighbours who want to specialise in the financial world. A fincom is a website where we learn to empower ourselves collectively.
And, as in any city, when you are part of the 11Onze community, you have La Plaça, a digital site that brings together all the services to build your financial independence: the financial institution, where you can open an account with El Canut; a school where you can Learn; a cinema and a radio with 11OnzeTV; a newspaper stand with the Magazine; and a neighbourhood with other users and the 24/7 attention of the agents. Later on, we will have a Marketplace where you can buy products and services. And, by the way, we even have our own currency, Les Peles!
So, if anyone asks you if 11Onze is a bank, the answer is simple: no, it is much, much more. Can 11Onze do everything a bank does? Progressively, yes, and we will do things that are unimaginable for a bank, because we are counting on you to do them. Let’s take a look back at how we have explained our fincom!
Episode 4 | Community fintech
“The project is very ambitious”
Episode 6 | Bank abuse: IBAN Discrimination
Episode 8 | Fintech with the best customers
Episode 9 | Tecnhology for people
Episode 5 | The Story of 11Onze
Debit cards are arriving to 11Onze users. Here’s how to start using your card so you can go shopping like our agent Amadeu Vilaginés, do as Amadeu does!
If you have already received your 11Onze card, it’s time to activate it and begin using it. As you will see, thanks to El Canut it is a very quick procedure. Once you have activated the card, you can change the name, set a spending limit or block and unblock it whenever you need to. We explain it to you in this video.
Tutorial: Activate your card
Ready for Christmas shopping
If you still haven’t received your physical card, we remind you that you can activate your virtual card to make, for example, Black Friday or Cyber Monday purchases. The card arrives in time for you to be able to do your Christmas shopping. But, for security reasons, the first time you use it, you have to insert it at the TPV.
From then on, you can use it with ‘contactless’. Our agent Amadeu Vilaginés has already brought forward some of his Christmas shopping. So, when you have your 11Onze card… do like Amadeu!
Do it like Amadeu
It’s been a month since the launch of El Canut, 11Onze’s super app. In a new episode of ‘Ens interessa’, 11Onze president James Sène assesses the launch and explains to the community where the project is going.
“We are talking about problems, about things that don’t work well in El Canut. And this means, effectively, that we have a Canut, that is, that we have a new Catalan financial institution that is here for the people,” Sène explains in conversation with the head of agents Lara de Castro.
The president of 11Onze is satisfied with the launch, because “any technological company needs between six and eight weeks to stabilise.” “We have done it in four days,” he adds. In this sense, he values very positively the technological effort of the company, which has been able to advance updates of the application to solve problems detected by users.
The costs of 11Onze
One of the topics he spoke to De Castro about is the costs of 11Onze. The fact that the 11Onze account costs 2.95 euros a month, for example, when in other institutions it is free. “Nothing is free,” Sène says: “If it’s free, you or your money are the product.” He refers to the fact that 11Onze directly explains this cost, but other financial institutions say they offer a totally free service, when in fact they charge for it elsewhere, either by forcing you to pay your salary or pension directly into your account or by forcing you to take out their insurance policies.
“We are asking for a change of mentality, an effort, to our community. Services have costs, we explain them to you,” Sène says. 11Onze is a fincom, a community fintech. This means that the community part is as important as the fintech part. We need a trained, empowered community that uses the knowledge transmitted at La Plaça to learn and oversee the work of 11Onze or any other financial institution.
We invite you to listen to this podcast to understand the vision of 11Onze.
Episode 10 | The effort of the community
