Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Arbor Final Report
Arbor Final Report
Arbor Final Report
Alaa Elgamal
Basil Mahmoud
Maryanne D'mello
Mohammad Sufyan
Zarlish Jawed
Arbor
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
01 Introduction and
Firm Overview
02 Industry Overview
and History
03 Industry Analysis:
Porter's 5 Forces
04 Industry Analysis:
SWOT Analysis
05 Conclusion
06 Business Model
Canvas
07 References
Arbor
INTRODUCTION
Arbor: Your Application To
Save Automatically
A three-in-one platform that helps customers save, invest and pay off debt
efficiently for a minimal fee of 2 Euros
Founded in 2017, Arbor is a European-based fintech platform employing a digital wallet to offer its
financial services. Native to Spain, the firm has over 100,000 customers as of May 2021 figures and predicts
an approximate 20% increase every month (Kishinchand, 2021). Essentially a neo bank, Arbor offers the
following services:
1. Savings management:
a. Arbor allows its users to transfer funds from their origin and savings account free of charge.
b. Arbor’s phone app allows users to track and record their daily expenses, the trends and patterns
can aid in reducing future expenses through budgeting.
2. Loan payments:
a. Arbor users can directly pay off loans using the Arbor platform since the transfer of funds has no
fee attached to them.
3. Investment opportunities:
a. Arbor has a select few approved ETFs which their users can invest in, approved in the sense that
they have little to no regulatory disputes.
b. Users of the platform can begin investing with as little as 5 Euros.
c. Users can also set aside investment amounts by linking their savings account, in doing so, every
month the specified amount for investment purposes is deducted from their savings account and
transferred to their preferred ETF.
Arbor offers a business model which rivals traditional banks in the country. Through the use of its
platform, Arbor serves both its normal customers and its premium customers by offering a wide variety of
customizable services. Customers who develop loyalty to the platform can subscribe to the more premium
version which is Arbor Gold, more of which will be discussed in the report preceding. ("Arbor Fintech," 2008)
Moreover, serving as a disruptor Arbor competes with the traditional banks by offering its users “ethical
loan repayment options.” Compared to the Bank of Spain who currently offers about 18% in average
annual interest rates for credit cards ("Arbor Fintech," 2008). Arbor rivals this perfectly by not only
guaranteeing half the interest rate but also saving up to 1300 euros for its average customer. However it
should be known that Arbor is not offering its users a lower interest rate, it is merely allowing its users
access to a financial coach who can assist with the refinancing of loans and effectively early loan
repayments. All these aforementioned benefits are just a result of one key feature in ethical loans, there’s
more that’s part of the journey Arbor offers, and we aim to display that in our report ("Arbor Fintech,"
2008).
How does Arbor Work?
Easy to understand infographics and an even easier process to set up your account, Arbor ensures
customers never have to spend time decoding how to save.
INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
& HISTORY
Arbor belongs to the wealth management industry since it provides users with a fintech platform to
improve financial wellness. Moreover, it allows people to use their app to save, invest and reduce
their debts(Arbor,2020). The wealth management industry refers to an investment advisory
discipline that works closely with individuals and businesses and offers them financial planning,
investment portfolio management, and several financial aggregated services. Other than that, In
the past few decades, several events have occurred, which shaped the current wealth
management industry.
The banking and wealth management industries showed significant growth up until 2007. However,
the Financial crisis between 2007-2009 impacted the financial services industry and wealth
management industry majorly. During that period, the S&P 500 value dropped drastically, followed
by the crash of the US housing market. Consequently, people lost their trust in banks and became
cautious with their wealth. Additionally, the revenue of the wealth management industry
plummeted. To gain public trust again, many organizations started offering customized services,
which allowed new opportunities for innovators.
Furthermore, technological development played a substantial role in shaping the current wealth
management industry. The use of technology such as the internet, and cloud computing have
modified the working methods of wealth managers. Wealth managers can access the data
provided by customers to understand their needs and offer them customized services.
These developments helped in increasing efficiency and streamlining operations. Firstly, it made
businesses more efficient by offering access to an increasingly digitized customer base. Hence,
enabling employees to interact better with customers by retaining their data from different
platforms. Arbor achieves this by offering customized services through its mobile application when
customers fill in the required information. Secondly, it streamlined operations through a cloud-
based or ERP System, which integrates all key sectors such as marketing, CRM, accounting, sales,
and so on in one place. Overall, Arbor is using approximately 87 technologies to offer customized
services for their website, including Google Analytics, Lets Encrypt, API, and Google Font
(Crunchbase,2021).
Lastly, the current pandemic served as an awakening call for investors and wealth managers to
consider investment strategies under extreme circumstances as well. It allowed more
communication methods between customers and the firms. Fintech firms like Arbor, already had a
competitive advantage over their competitors as they did not have a tough time adjusting to new
norms. Lastly, the wealth management industry is expected to grow further in the future as they
are recovering from the covid impact. The statistics show that “the market is expected to reach
$1755 billion in 2025 at a G=CAGR of 9%” (Report Linker,2021)
Arbor
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
PORTER'S 5 FORCES
Competitive Rivalry
Arbor’s main value proposition is providing a free, easy-to-use application that helps users
save, invest and pay off outstanding loans on one platform. They are based in Madrid,
Spain, and cater to mostly the European Union with the majority of their users presumably
based in Spain. If we look at this target market, we see that there are plenty of money-
saving applications available in the region.
Traditional banks or incumbents are one important competitor. They offer a safe and
trusted place for customers to save money but Arbor’s convenience with the easy-to-use
application and their customer-centric approach makes it a customer’s preferred choice.
Since they only focus on saving and investing and have low fixed costs, they are able to
tweak the platform as and when demand for a certain service increases. Competitive
rivalry from banks can therefore be classified as low and the partnership agreement they
have with most banks is a good example of an arms-length agreement.
An example of one of Arbor’s main competitors in the fintech space would be Goin, also a
startup that focuses on goal-oriented savings and investments. As of 24th July 2020, Goin
has been downloaded by 350,000 people and its founders are on the Forbes Europe Top 30
Under 30 List and has acquired 5 million euros in a new investment round (Torrego, 2020).
According to Crunchbase’s traffic analysis, Goin attracts more monthly visitors to the
website (8.830) compared to Arbor (4,267). This is probably because Goin is almost entirely
free to use and only charges a small management fee for the investing service they offer.
Their investing service is also done through ETFMatic, the same company that Arbor uses.
(Arbor Fintech - Tech Stack, Apps, Patents & Trademarks, 2021)
Arbor’s only difference from Goin is the fact that it also offers the feature of aiding the
user to pay off outstanding debt. While the application is free to download, users require
an Arbor Gold subscription to access all the services that it offers, this makes it easier for
other applications to simply cut down on their profits and offer the same services for free.
This would increase user adoption for the free applications, thus taking customers away
from Arbor. Arbor’s existing low subscription fee of 2 euros a month can be offered at a
lower rate at certain times of the year in order to attract more users and convince them to
use the platform initially.
Arbor
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
PORTER'S 5 FORCES
Supplier Power
In terms of suppliers for FinTech’s, we will discuss how Arbor partners with banks to store
and manage user’s deposits and how they partner with ETFMatic to invest user’s deposits
and multiply savings. Arbor’s current bank partners include:
Abanca, Bancapueyo, Pastor Bank, Popular Bank ,Bankia, Bankinter, BBVA, Caixa Bank,
Workingbox, Cajamar, Cajasur, Coinc, Deutschebank, EVO, Ibercaja, ImaginBank, ING,
Kutxabank, Liberbank, Mediolanum, N26, Openbank, Ruralvia, Sabadell, Santander, Self
Bank, Triodes, Unicaja (Arbor FAQ’s)
This is a very comprehensive list and Arbor is currently working on partnering with more
banks. Chances are, however, that most users use these banks and as such, users will be
satisfied with the application’s diversity. Since there is a variety of banks to choose from,
Arbor’s supplier power is low. Banks would want to partner with Arbor because it
encourages users to deposit money thus bringing in business for the bank.
Additionally, they partner with Aion Bank for investment services, this is a robotic
investment manager based in Belgium. Since it’s a Robo-advisor we can safely assume that
the fees they charge are significantly lesser than a traditional investment bank. The system
also constantly adjusts users’ portfolios to stay within the specific risk level and the entry
fee to start investing is just 5 Euros.
Arbor itself doesn’t charge users any commissions on profits earned which is different from
Goin, their competitor. Arbor uses ETFMatic for investments in ETFs. There are a plethora
of Robo-advisors available in Europe including Openbank Wealth, StashAway, and Finizens
in Spain alone. This makes ETFMatic and Aion Bank’s bargaining power lower. (Arbor FAQ’s)
Arbor
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
PORTER'S 5 FORCES
Buyer Power
Taking into account customer switching costs, we see that they are relatively low.
Customers are exposed to a multitude of savings apps, lending apps, and investment apps.
However, there are few other apps that perform these functions via one platform and
therefore, customers are more inclined to use one application rather than clutter up their
life with multiple apps all requesting bank details and charging separate fees.
Customers of Arbor Gold particularly can use the full services of the app for a minimal fee
of 2 euros (Arbor FAQs). Other applications which are supposedly free to use often charge
portfolio management fees or have other hidden charges. Hence, we can conclude that
buyer power is moderate depending on the convenience a customer wishes to have when it
comes to managing their savings.
We also have to keep in mind geographical location because currently, Arbor only offers its
services to customers who bank with Spanish banks so the fintech startup doesn’t have a
diversity of location on its side.
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
PORTER'S 5 FORCES
Threat of Substitution
To illustrate, Arbor is not a very unique idea, it’s simply a single platform for customers to
save, invest and pay off debt. Thus, for Arbor to stay ahead of the game, they charge a
lower rate because of the lower fixed costs they incur as an organization “ they have light
assets”.
On the other hand, traditional financial institutions, who technically might already be
offering these services via one platform, require heavy investment for the upkeep and
maintenance of a new application, and setting up this infrastructure adds to the existing
high fixed costs that they must pay “ heavy assets”.
Hence, in short, it's difficult but not impossible for substitutes who incorporate technology
in their services to simply add new features to their existing application and create a one-
stop platform for Arbor’s customers.
Incumbents have
heavy fixed costs and
incorporating new
technology takes time
Arbor
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
PORTER'S 5 FORCES
Threat of New Entry
Considering Arbor is a startup, they managed to amass quite a number of users quickly,
but this is also a matter of convenience. Customers could use this handy application for 3
tasks all in one for a minimal monthly fee which they don’t have to pay if they don’t want
some features. This makes it customizable, and they also partnered with almost all the
major banks as mentioned above which must have taken a fair amount of time and
coordination. Despite that, they managed to keep profit margins low by charging a lower
fee to Arbor Gold customers which is a commendable achievement.
Overall, new entrants must spend considerable amounts of both time and money to secure
permits, convince regulatory bodies and earn the trust of customers. This means that new
entrants, just like with substitutes, would have a difficult but not impossible job to do in
order to enter this field. (Lucio & Sarahi, 2021)
Arbor
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
SWOT ANALYSIS
1
Strengths
Arbor charges a premium price to access
2
Arbor’s Growing brand equity allows it to
some services, so customers can access the accumulate funds from venture capital investors.
free version of the financial wellness app and In March 2021, Wisr, an Australian listed company
enjoy it. For example, no commission is offering consumer loans services entered the
charged when transferring savings, which Spanish financial market through the acquisition
makes it completely free. Also, customers of a minority stake in Arbor (DÍAS, 2021).
have the option to upgrade to Arbor Gold, Moreover, it will become a shareholder in Abor,
which would allow them to gain access to joining FinRebel Group (New York), Tifin Capital
extra features such as Arbor’s Ethical Loans. Partners (New York), and Apex Capital (Sydney)
as part of the multinational pool of investors that
are financially backing Arbor’s operations (DÍAS,
4
Arbor has channel partners available that help
facilitate the features available on the
platform. For example, Aion Bank (Belgian
Bank) is Arbor’s partner bank for investments. Arbor also offers a personalized customer
So, customers that wish to invest through Arbor experience through Arbor Gold by offering free calls
would have their investments provided by Aion with a financial coach. Additionally, Arbor’s local
bank, which is supervised by the national bank market knowledge as a company that is based in
of Belgium, and the financial services and Madrid allows it to find the best partners for its
markets authorities in Belgium. Also, Lemon customers’ needs in Europe. Lastly, they possess a
Way is Arbor’s accredited payment institute higher level of customer accessibility because the
that handles bank transfers through Arbor. minimum amount required to start an investment is
Having these accredited institutes enhances 5 euros and the saving feature is free.
customer security with Arbor. According to Arbor’s LinkedIn, Arbor has 21
employees that help facilitate the platform to their
customers. This small team managing the growing
platform means that they are cost-effectively
serving a large group of customers using IT (Arbor
Fintech, 2021).
Arbor
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
SWOT ANALYSIS
Weaknesses
1
In terms of weaknesses, Arbor’s business
model has not been monetized appropriately,
their aggressive focus on customer
accessibility makes it difficult for Arbor to
accumulate revenue. Arbor’s platform is free
to use and their main source of revenue is
2
Arbor Gold, which is 2 euros a month, this
slows the pace of growing revenues
significantly.
3
customer retention.
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
SWOT ANALYSIS
Opportunities
Arbor must lookout for all types of opportunities in the market to ensure they stand out
in the crowd. To be specific, the external opportunities are openings, trends, or gaps in
the market that Arbor can smartly turn into profits.
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
SWOT ANALYSIS
Threats
Arbor can proactively respond to external threats by preparing contingency plans in case of
any occurrence. Thus, Arbor should always try to catch up on any unpredictable trends,
disruptions, and new financial instruments that occur in the market, just like cryptocurrencies.
1 NO INVOLVEMENT IN CRYPTOCURRENCY
Arbor advertises the app to customers as a tool that simplifies investments and
saving, yet they portray investing in cryptos as "gambling" to show why they don't
offer the service on the app, which would definitely make a lot of potential customers
think twice about using the app due to the fact that the digital currencies market is
evolving nowadays. Arbor shouldn't mention this explicitly on its website as this would
hold people back from trusting it as an investing app. Moreover, what aggravates the
impact of not being up to date with the market is that Goin is targeting the gaps in
Arbor's services by introducing the purchase of Bitcoin via its app.
A better way to handle the digital currencies market would be by introducing ETFs
that are crypto-related. To illustrate this idea more, ETFs are a less risky way to
benefit from cryptocurrencies without the accompanying price volatility of the direct
investment.
3 SECURITY CONCERNS
It’s true that some of Arbor's current security measures are SSL security protocols,
LOPD, and fingerprint access, however, in order to meet regulatory requirements and
limit online fraud, we recommend considering the process of verifying the client's
identity using face ID, which is known as KYC. To clarify, reg tech companies like
Trulioo provide KYC services to verify that the customer that is trying to move money
from his/her account to his/her bank account is actually the person whom they say
they are. Thus, Arbor should partner with such a company to ensure that transactions
are running smoothly, efficiently, and with a decreased possibility of fraud, which adds
value to customers by reducing their anxiety about finances.
Arbor
CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, Arbor as a fintech company is doing well in the market especially after the
partnership it had with the publicly listed company "Wisr". Yet, based on what we
learned from this course, companies that aim to take a large slice of customers in the
market must learn the new strategies and rules of the game, or else, they would simply
be out of the competition.
Banco De Espagna: National Bank of Wealth Management: Ensuring Reduces cost: For a subsidized rate Account Management: For those that Arbor currently offers their services
Spain who registers the payment customers deposits are invested of 2 Euros a month, Arbor Gold opt for Arbor Gold, this includes B2C i.e. they target individuals who
institution. according to their personal risk levels provides customers with their full investment according to their would like to increase the amount
range of services which can save and preferred risk levels. they save each month.
LemonWay: Payment institution used Transferring funds: From user’s origin multiply money.
for secure transactions and to verify (salary) account to either a different C2C Support Forums: Via the Arbor Customers link their bank account to
transfer of funds from the bank to bank account or My Piggy Bank Avoids hassles, reduces efforts and FAQ page and other forums, they are Arbor. There must be an origin
Arbor or from Arbor’s My Piggy Bank within Arbor itself integrates: Customers can avail of 3 easily available to answer any account with a partner bank where
to the respective bank. services in 1 platform (automated questions that may arise promptly. salary or funds come in regularly.
Securing transactions: Using a third savings, investment of deposits and There’s an automated service via the Customers can choose various
ETFMatic: Roboadvisor used for party service, Lemon Way to ensure faster debt pay-off). Q&A section as well. options to save: round up expenses,
Arbor Gold customers who choose to funds are being evaluated before the save a fixed amount each month,
invest their deposits. transfer is made. Simplifies: Arbor automatically Tech Support: For the operating side save a % of salary or even challenge
rounds up expenses and saves the of the application in case of themselves to save 1 euro for 1 week,
Other major banks in Spain including Maintaining and updating the easy corresponding amount (expense of transaction issues etc. 2 euros the next week etc.
but not limited to Deutschebank, user interface via the free mobile 1.9 euros = savings of 0.1 euros). Can
Santander and Sabadell. These banks application. also save a fixed amount every Customers deposits are secured by
hold either the origin accounts or the month. SSL security protocol, their deposists
destination accounts, Arbor being the are insured by the Deposit Guarantee
middleman. Makes money: Customers of Arbor Fund for credit insitutions (up to
Key Resources Gold can invest as little as 5 Euros Channels 100,000 Euros) and data is kept
and multiply their savings (with 0 confidential by the LOPD (Organic
Human Resources: Employees commission on profits because they Directly through the website, Law on Protection of Personal Data)
IT Infrastructure: Computers, servers, use roboadvisors) Google Play/ App Store,
high speed connections) Tech forums/ partner channels,
Intellectual property: Customer Indirect referral through customers,
databases of sensitive financial Banks do not advertise Arbor
information (checked with Santander and
Physical assets: Buildings etc. Deutschebank)
Arbor does not have major overheads (low fixed costs as everything is done via the app) No. of customers = 100k. Assuming 50% pay for Arbor Gold at 2 Euros/monthly = 1.2 million Euros
Arbor must bear marketing costs and platform maintenance costs. end of year 1. Additonally, with predicted growth of customers by 71% by the end of the year, Arbor
Arbor Loans are only taken out to cancel credit card debt efficiently i.e. Arbor does not pay is at the beginning of its stride. That said, since they’re only operating in Spain their growths are
interest, the app saves more money and that goes towards paying credit card debt. limited. We have predicted through our revenue model that Arbor will have revenues of 12.8
million and a customer base of 1.6 million end of year. (Revenues are not held constant, subject to
growth in base year and subsequent years)
Arbor
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