With the digital banking license, lenders are now required to be as agile as financial technology startups. The pace of the digital banking competition in Türkiye is prompting lenders that focus on experience in the transformation of their customers to increase their investments.

Stating that they have achieved an important transformation with a daily transaction volume of 6 million, Altan Taşkıran, deputy general manager in charge of retail and digital banking at Halkbank, says that the lender has adapted quickly to digital banking.

"The figures show that the steps we have taken in the transformation have paid off. Now, 87% of all transactions that take place are carried out through mobile and internet banking, and 97% are carried out through digital services," Taşkıran said.

"In other words, we adapt to digital transformation with our millions of processing muscles. The transaction volume of the branches is still high. Even if the number decreases, many customers prefer to resolve loan requests and high-volume transactions at the bank branch. We focus on solving problems wherever we contact the customer with digital solutions."

Digital loans to SMEs

Underscoring the multidimensional competition in digital banking, Taşkıran emphasized that they cooperate with financial technology initiatives and that banks should use trust and resources correctly.

"Fintechs are entering the micro market. Financial technology in the world is coming to banks as a business partner. We have met SMEs' need for digital loans. We helped them manage their businesses better," he noted.

"As a bank, we have continued to increase our efficiency by responding to the needs of our customers with the right timing. We believe that the agile structure of the startups will also contribute to the growth of the market," Taşkıran said.

Experience

Taşkıran stated that they have made significant investments in the customer experience in the mobile application, as he elaborated on the development process.

"We are launching our new mobile application soon. It needs to be a solution that people can use. We have taken into account the feedback of our customers to build the application with a simpler and more powerful experience," he said.

He emphasized that the feedback helped the lender learn what Halkbank customers and non-customers like or dislike.

"Then we switched to a new design focused on user experience by highlighting the details they liked. Apart from mobile screens, we also have to manage the branch density. We can also monitor the density in our branches instantly," Taşkıran said.

University cafeterias

Stating that they serve people of all ages and professions, Taşkıran also elaborated on examples of the related solutions they offer.

"We produce solutions for all kinds of needs of students at universities. They can even see how crowded the cafeteria is through our application. We also assume different responsibilities with pending food support for students," he noted.

He said the bank offers special solutions not only for young people but also for the elderly and children.

"We must respond to the needs of our users of all ages. We have 1,000 branches. Instead of reducing the number of branches, we are developing models that we will use more effectively. Thus, customers can use branches as a solution for their financial tasks," Taşkıran added.