Consumer Banking

The mission of the Consumer Banking department of Finansbank is to meet the financial service needs of Finansbank’s consumer banking customers at maximum quality and to make it the leader of the consumer banking industry in terms of customer satisfaction and service quality.

Finansbank has in recent years significantly increased the number of its customers and its market share in consumer banking in terms of deposits, investments, consumer loans and payments. In parallel to this growth, the bank has launched several marketing activities and projects aimed at both improving the productivity of the existing customer base, and attracting new customers. The result was a striking increase in profitability in consumer banking.

The number of Finansbank branches has reached 309 by January 2007. Finansbank offers consumer banking services at 273 service points: 46 at consumer banking branches, 188 representatives at retail banking branches, 7 representatives at commercial banking branches, 8 consumer banking representatives at commercial branches, 7 shared branches, 2 representatives corporate branches, 8 satellite branches and 8 KrediKolay branches.

The “Automatic Account” (Otomatik Hesap) system introduced in the last quarter of 2003 has been a major success story. More than 506,000 customers are now benefiting from the facilities and advantages this system offers. The system automatically uses your balance for investment, automatically pays your bills, extends you a credit if necessary. These unique features make Automatic Account (Otomatik Hesap) the most advantageous product among similar products on the market. Finansbank has attracted significant numbers of new customers thanks to Automatic Account (Otomatik Hesap), a single product that meets all banking needs of individuals.

In recent years Finansbank has achieved very rapid growth in Turkish Lira deposits and a corresponding increase in its market share in this segment. Last year, the volume of Turkish Lira time deposits and demand deposits increased by 54.11% and by 64.75%, respectively. Marketing activities such as the “Invest in a Mutual Fund and Get a Gift” campaign or the Automatic Account campaign have been quite successful, and the number of active customers in deposits and investments increased significantly, along with the corresponding volumes.

The bank’s Turkish Lira consumer loan portfolio and foreign-currency consumer loan portfolio have respectively grown by 187.27% and by 21.61% over last year. By September 2006, the bank had reached a 8.18% market share in loans. Its consumer loan product range has considerably expanded with the addition of such new products as Shopping Loans, Education and Personal Development Loans, Travel Loans, Home Improvement and Renovation Loans and Marriage Loans.

In 2006, Finansbank opened new branches called “KrediKolay branches” that exclusively handle the grant of consumer loans such as personal loans, vehicle loans, housing loans and credit cards. In June, KrediKolay branches were opened in Beşiktaş, Bodrum and Kızılay. In August, these were followed by new KrediKolay branches in Bakırköy, Eskişehir and Karşıyaka. With the addition of the Kayseri branch in October, the number of KrediKolay branches reached seven.

Micro-loans were introduced in February 2005. Total loan volume in this segment increased from YTL 41,422,059 in January 2006 to YTL 299,300,000 by the end of October 2006.

Rapid brand-specific action was taken in vehicle loans, and effective flexible-payment and co-marketing campaigns were organized. Customers were offered favorable payment terms in campaigns organized jointly with distributors and individual authorized resellers. In the housing loan segment, campaigns for individual mass housing projects were organized jointly with construction companies and contractors, and agreements were made with professional real-estate and consulting companies.

Marketing activities for FinansBordro, a system aimed at attracting large numbers of active and long-term customers to the bank, gained further momentum in 2006. The salaries of 120,000 customers were paid through Finansbank in 2006. Product and service campaigns that specifically targeted these customers resulted in considerable growth in terms of product penetration and profitability.

Despite the entry of major competitors, Finansbank maintained its position as the market leader and the preferred agent with its Western Union Money Transfer System: In 2006, the number of transactions in this system increased 15% over 2005.

Thanks to the various insurance packages offered to customers for their existing risks and assets, insurance commissions generated by the bank increased 92% in 2006.

The Direct Sales Unit of the consumer banking department was set up in 1999. This main responsibility of this unit is the sale of credit cards, loyalty cards and consumer banking products. The Direct Sales Team is a mobile team that sells its products at one-to-one meetings, thus attracting new customers to the bank and contributing to customer loyalty. By the end of October 2006, the bank had issued 2,465,112 credit cards.

The “Housing Projects Assessment and Development Team” (KPDGE) was set up under the consumer banking department in September 2005. By October 2006, the number of loans issued by this team reached 3,406, and total loan volume YTL 287,505,835.

Starting in early 2004, Finansbank conducted detailed analyses into the specific requirements of various segments of the consumer banking industry, and introduced innovative and pioneering product and service packages specifically tailored for this segment, using a proactive marketing and sales strategy. Active customer growth was achieved by introducing special product and service packages that offer tailored pricing schemes and advantages to certain schools, foundations, associations and clubs that address the target audience and to which the bank's customers feel a strong affinity. Along the same lines, several successful marketing campaigns were implemented in 2006 to improve the profitability, product penetration and activity level of existing customers. These efforts as a whole resulted in a considerable increase in the profitability of consumer banking activities.

Credit Cards

CardFinans continued its upward trend in 2005 and 2006. It achieved considerable growth in its customer portfolio as a result of general-purpose campaigns and CRM activities. In addition to the general purpose campaigns organized at various dates around the year, CardFinans also launched several seasonal image campaigns and used various artworks in popular winter and summer destinations, at airports and on taxies and buses. These activities were mainly aimed at improving brand recognition and card activation rates. CardFinans offers a wide range of benefits that make shopping safer and more fun. These include special installment and discount schemes, cashpoints (parapuan) that cardholders earn while shopping and can later use instead of cash, or to get free plane tickets, bus tickets or Turkcell prepaid minutes. In addition to campaigns aimed at activating and selling cards, CardFinans also made efforts to add new brands to its membership in 2006. The number of member brands passed the 1,000 mark, at almost 46,000 points of sale.

Alternative Channels

In 2006, Finansbank Internet Banking offered its customers even a wider range of reliable and customizable services in the Consumer Banking, Small Business Banking and Corporate Banking segments.

In 2006 Finansbank’s ATM network has grown by 70%, and the number of the bank’s credit cards has increased by 48%. This has resulted in a 25% increase in the number of transactions. In addition to the Common Point (Ortak Nokta) system, Finansbank serves its customers at more than 5,000 ATMs thanks to the ATM sharing agreements with Ziraat Bank and Halk Bank. In 2006, Finansbank ATMs started to support Russian and German in addition to English, and new services such as Installment-Based Cash Advance were added to the system. By the end of 2006, the number of ATMs reached 750, and the bank’s share in the ATM market was 5%.

For the first time in Turkey, www.cardfinans.com.tr introduced user-specific campaign messages on a credit card website. In 2006, the number of visitors coming to the website increased by 45% over the previous year. In 2007, the CardFinans website will continue to be a center of attention for the bank’s credit card customers with campaigns full of prizes, continuously updated e-cards, popular games and enhanced interactivity.

In 2006, the number of SMS messages sent to customers for information purposes or for announcing campaigns increased by 30%. The single-use quick SMS platform and other mobile applications which had been developed for the Internet Banking SMS password (OTP) system in 2005 were further enhanced in 2006 with the addition of two-way services such as “Send an SMS and Get a Reply”, and new service channels that combine SMS and voice technologies were designed. Customized e-bulletins sent via e-mail helped the bank provide its customers information on ongoing campaigns and new products. In 2006, the number of these e-bulletins increased by 53% over the previous year. Efforts are continuing to integrate banking transactions into mobile platforms.