One Zero founder and owner Amnon Shashua told The Financial Times (FT) that the Israeli digital bank is preparing to expand its activities outside Israel and will apply for a license in Italy by the end of 2023.
“The plan is to be the first pan-European private digital bank for the wealthy,” he said, referring to clients that One Zero describes as having disposable assets of between $50,000 and $500,000.
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FT reports that One Zero has acquired 60,000 customers since launching in Israel last summer and has 1,000 customers per relationship manager, and plans to reach 2,000 by the end of the year. Shashua adds that One Zero’s long-term goal is to reach 10,000 customers per relationship manager.
Ultimately, One Zero wants to deploy an AI chatbot to answer customer questions, even complex ones, and free up bankers’ time for other tasks.
“If people are not getting answers, they feel like they are not being served, so you have to deal with this either through human bankers or automation,” Shashua told the Financial Times. “The emergence of language paradigms… it’s time to create this automation.”
Asked if he would consider selling the One Zero, which was valued at $385m when it raised $250m in February, Chashua told the Financial Times that “it’s too early to talk about mergers and acquisitions. My interest in technology. Once I’m done with technology – I I’m not a banker.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 7, 2023.
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