MILAN (ITALY) – Italy’s Enel is set to launch new digital banking services this month, allowing customers to open a current account with a debit card for payment of energy bills and accessing other financial services.
The move comes in the wake of energy companies in the world making investment of billions in bringing out digital networks to help them run their businesses more efficiently.
Enel X Financial Services, part of the utility’s digital solutions division Enel X, will launch a new app in October, Enel X head Francesco Venturini told Reuters.
The service would be extended to more than 70 million customers worldwide and will team up with specialist provider partners including digital asset manager Euclidea to offer services like asset management and insurance.
“Our aim is to head off rival competition in the electronic payment sector and to compete in financial services too,” Venturini said.
Enel has already announced a series of agreements that would take it on a path to develop new financial digital services.
Venturini said, “What we’re doing is what Amazon does with its clients and what Orange recently did when it opened its bank. We’re not Fintech, we’re Big Tech.”