Projects
Piet Biemans was involved in a large number of international assignments. These projects were mainly focused on advising postal and (post) bank institutions on market, strategic and tactical business aspects and execution approaches, often based on an extensive feasibility study including detailed business plans.
In more than 20 countries he was contracted by international multilateral institutions (e.g. Worldbank) and private advisory companies (such as advisory units within ING and TPG Netherlands). On theLinks site the web site of most of the advised companies is available to get an impressio of the present status of the advised company.
Overview of the assignments in which Piet Biemans -often in co-operation with members of his network of postal and post bank experts- was involved as senior postal banking and postal financial services advisor during the last fifteen years:
- Associate consultant for the World Savigs Bank Institute (WSBI) /European Savings Bank Group (ESBG) :
project ‘Product mapping for pro-poor service delivery by WSBI partner bank’ under the sharing lessons learned initiative : as product engineer ‘mass retail financial services’ contributed to composing a thematic paper by executing an extensive survey of existing product ranges and features, especially those being put forward as appropriate for the poor, benchmark the products and features against the basic needs of the poor, make an analysis of customer tariffs also in relation to an indication of supply costs and propose the product engineering strategy to increase usability. Main lesson learned is that most elements of a pro-poor service are probably embedded in existing product ranges and it looks possible to make them affordable but they need to be offered in ways relevant to the needs of the poor. Allowing the poor to transfer money and make payments via electronic means, particularly mobile phones, is the single most important quick win open to members ; April- December 2011, research paper Mass retail banking: how savings banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America can provide usable services to the poor , published July 2012.
South African Post/Postbank : assignment: from point of view of ‘Intensified and New services for pro-poor mass market approach’ ; Diagnostic review of the current Postbank Operations organization, (primary, secondary and support) business processes and ICT solutions and (intended) development plans; Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threads analysis (SWOT analysis); Recommended (Short-Term) OPS & IT Actions; Set of Postbank business requirements for medium term vision Postbank 2015; 2010
Tanzania Postal Bank (TPB) project ‘Increasing Rural Savings using PoS terminal network’ : Assist on revising the transfer pricing framework and procedures and training manuals for post office staff by reporting on the analysis of present agreement(s) and advised Way Forward and assist on TPB negotiations with Tanzania Post; 2010
Vietnam Postal savings Company (VPSC) project ‘Piloting micro banking service relevant to the un-banked mass middle market’: Determine and propose, based on best practices and market information and customer needs , revitalized VPSC product offer for unbanked middle market and ‘repacking of features’ for the pilot based on the conditions that it fits around VPSC’s existing business model and can be rolled out over to the new Lien Viet Postbank environment after the merger has been completed; 2010
Workshop ‘Maximising the role of postal banks in financial inclusion’ at Aitec Conference ‘Banking and Mobile money Comesa’ at Nairobi 3 march 2011: main subjects handled are recent developments in post bank business models, including the main conclusions of the World Bank research of 2006 and especially related to financial inclusion initiatives. The postal (savings) bank concept focused on the Bottom of the Pyramid and a few cases in developed and developing countries. Developing an appropriate business model as the „integrated approach‟. Translating this model into business planning (and business cases) for all stakeholders, including new players like mobile money transfer operators and agent networks (including post offices and agencies); March 2011
Business plan, implementation support and Management training for the development and implementation of the Postbank in Lesotho (LPB); 2002, 2004, 2005
Strategy advise for an Austrian bank, integrated with Postbank Hungary, to develop strategic co-operation with Magyar Post, especially through the post office network; 2004
