Cogo to reach 10,000 SME and retail banking customers as part of OTP’s Startup Booster Program

7 September 2022: Carbon tracking company, Cogo, has partnered with leading Hungarian bank OTP after successfully making its way through the bank’s Startup Booster Program, organised by OTP LAB. Cogo is one of 12 innovative tech start-ups chosen out of 260 applicants, with the aim of developing future bank solutions. 

Commencing today, 7 September 2022, Cogo will run two pilots. Using Cogo’s carbon footprint technology, the first pilot will allow up to 10,000 of the bank's retail customers to see their carbon footprint, based on their individual spending data. The second pilot will involve Cogo and OTP working together to develop a solution to help their SME customers to measure and reduce their footprint. This pilot will focus on customer research to help define an appropriate solution. 

OTP LAB is OTP Bank’s innovation hub, where expert colleagues, start-ups, businesses based on innovative technology, and educational institutions work together to develop the banking products and services of the future. The pilot will run for three months and be available to customers in Hungary.

With 16.3 million customers across 11 markets, OTP is already working on sustainability: it has been issuing a sustainability report since 2015; the first green loan framework approved by the Hungarian supervisory authority was produced by OTP, and the bank has achieved a leading share in the Green Housing Programme in terms of contracted volumes. The collaboration with Cogo is the next step in OTP’s sustainability journey, offering both retail and business customers better tracking of their carbon emissions, which adds to the bank’s overall appeal to the eco-conscious.  

Emma Kisby, EMEA CEO of Cogo, says, “This is an exciting opportunity for Cogo and OTP to lead a new wave of sustainable innovation in Hungary’s banking sector. The use of Cogo’s expertise in carbon tracking for OTP is an important first step in making it easy for everyone to live and spend in a greener way – using their spending power to influence change.  

As our first financial services partner in central Europe, we are excited to see how our solutions can be adapted and scaled to fit the needs of the Hungarian market. Being part of the OTP Startup Booster Program with OTP gives us a wonderful opportunity to see how customers and businesses respond to the integration of carbon tracking data in their banking services. It is my hope that these two pilots can bring better climate understanding to both customers and businesses, starting a green banking revolution for Hungary.”

Gergő Szathmári, Head of Innovation Management CoE at OTP Lab, says, “OTP Group sees outstanding value in collaboration with innovative enterprises. When Cogo applied to the Beyond Banking category of the OTP Startup Booster Program, where inventive solutions within the field of sustainability are sought, the instrumentality of their solution proved indispensable even at first glance. It categorically fits OTP Group’s vision to provide sustainable solutions to its customers in the long run. 

Cogo’s cutting-edge technology and solution provide us with extremely valuable data and insights to help us in building a more sustainable future for all. Not only does it aid in helping to educate our colleagues and customers about their carbon footprint, but also in understanding and measuring our own carbon emissions and impact on the climate.  We hope our collaboration with Cogo sets an example in the Central European market, bringing about the future of green banking.”

Cogo is on track to have more than 3 million banking customers using its carbon management features by the end of 2022, thanks to the success of its financial services partnership model, which has seen partnerships announced with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac, Kiwibank, The Cumberland and ING in the past two months alone.