CEO of Garantibank Romania: „the banking industry should not abandon the traditional channels of interaction with customers in favor of digital ones”

Ufuk Tandogan (phot0), the CEO of Garantibank Romania, writes an article on linkedin about the future of banking in the era of new emerging technologies like blockchain, biometrics and Artificial Intelligence. It’s interesting to see that a manager of a bank who is very well oriented to digital transformation believes that the future banking will be not only digital: „the banking industry should not abandon the traditional channels of interaction with customers in favor of digital ones”.

Here is the full article:

„Technology has truly revolutionized the way people bank. As our clients’ needs for efficiency and excellence have amplified over the years, new devices and digital banking tools have been developed, in order to give customers, the convenience of banking on the go.

46% of banks’ customers prefer to use only digital channels such as mobile phones, PCs and tablets to conduct their banking, according to a PwC study from 2017. And the number of these “omni-digital” customers is increasing rapidly as well as their expectations and their banking habits.

We see this trend here in Romania as well. In the first quarter of 2018, we at Garanti Bank have noticed a 168% increase in transactions made using our mobile app, Mobile ME, compared with the same period last year. We see a spectacular growth not only in the number of mobile transactions, but also in the number of clients who prefer to interact with the bank using a smartphone.

The shift to a primarily mobile-banking environment means that banks must continue to re-imagine how they serve customers. The digital customers demand applications and online platforms that are ready to use therefore the banking industry has evolved and now focuses not only on creating and selling products, but also on solving problems and improving the customer experience.

This is why our strategic focus is and will continue to be on continuously upgrading our mobile banking application, Mobile ME, and our online banking platform, Garanti Online. In developing our digital services, we benefit from the support and knowhow of our shareholders. Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (TGB) and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), two solid financial institutions that have over 6.6 million, respectively over 25 million, digital customers.

The future banking will be not only digital, but a highly individualized experience and for banks the big challenge will be to anticipate customers’ needs. The use of Big Data will help them do it.

But, the depth of customer data banks have at their disposal must be used with great responsibility and in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation – GDPR, which overhauls the way organizations handle personal data.

The digitization of banking does not mean that banks’ physical branches or banks’ employees will disappear, but it will force banks to retrain and hire employees with new skills.

I believe that digital transformation will be used more and more by banks in order to increase their efficiency for their branches, while their employees will continue to provide consultative banking services, but for more complex products, rather than transactions. Thus, the banking industry should not abandon the traditional channels of interaction with customers in favor of digital ones. An optimal combination of these channels, both traditional and digital, I believe to be the key for the banking of the future.

This ever-more-connected environment comes with its unique set of challenges related to cyber and data security. In a world were banking is done on the go, cybersecurity is paramount. Not only banks’ employees must be trained in order to better tackle cyber security risks, but also the clients must be permanently informed on how to safely use digital services, designed to make their life easier, while protecting their data.”