ČSOB and Gobii Europe prepare a revolutionary solution in real estate
The ČSOB Group and Gobii Europe (in which Stratus Data Systems and its management indirectly hold a majority stake) have formed a joint venture called Igluu. John Hollows, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ČSOB, Michaela Lhotková, Member of the Board of Directors of ČSOB and Carlos Grass, President of Stratus Data Systems confirmed this by signing the agreement. The joint venture will bring a compact solution to the Czech real estate market, which will make it easier for real estate professionals, financial intermediaries and people interested in housing to solve all they need from one place.
For the Czech real estate market and its participants, Igluu will offer digital tools, which are already used by more than 115,000 real estate professionals and financial intermediaries in the USA and Canada. It will bring technology that will significantly simplify and speed up their work, enable a significant acceleration of the arrangement of mortgage loans and other housing-related services and support development of new business opportunities. Igluu digital tools will also provide a connection to the real estate cadastre and thus enable the use of cadastral data and services or real estate valuation. The solution will include a public online portal with a comprehensive range of real estate offer, into which innovative technologies of the ČSOB Group and third parties will be gradually integrated, including, for example, online comparisons of financial and non-financial products of most domestic providers. This will result in compact service beneficial to all those interested in their own or rented housing as well as other participants of the real estate market. The first version of the solution is expected in the Czech market at the turn of the year 2021/2022.
"Being a leading financial institution and the largest mortgage provider in the Czech Republic, we are committed to fulfil our responsibility to real estate community and society as such. I believe that Igluu will navigate not only our clients through one of the financially most important decisions in their life, provide one-of-its-kind digital experience and personal touch and at the same time cultivate the market by modern technology and higher rate of transparency," says John Hollows, CEO of ČSOB.
"I am excited about the joint venture and our new partner. Igluu has the ambition to become an independent platform for the development of the real estate market and a place where client is at the centre of everything. Thus, we are honoured to support Igluu on this journey," says Michaela Lhotková, Member of the Board of ČSOB responsible for Innovation, Digital and Data.
"Our mission for the Czech Republic is to refine a real estate transaction for all market participants, be it a seller, a buyer or a professional, with the best digital end-to-end user experience. Having partnered with ČSOB, we feel excited that we can bring leading-edge SW tools from mature markets that would not otherwise exist here, given the size of the Czech market. We are also thrilled to see how our technological solution is enriched by bank-insurance know-how of the ČSOB Group," adds Martin Mucha, Head of Strategy of Gobii Europe.
"Stratus Data Systems has been designing and developing innovative technology to empower real estate agents and their clients since 1999. Joining forces with ČSOB for our expansionary plans in Europe comprises an important milestone for us. In the Czech Republic, we will strive to demonstrate what a real estate ecosystem of the 21st century should look like," says Carlos Grass, President of Stratus.
Law company Glatzová & Co. was the legal adviser for ČSOB and Dentons for Gobii Europe.
