The seeds of the idea to transform a
small investment bank into the bank with the broadest distribution network in the country were planted just five years ago.
With the aspiration of surpassing the usual, customary service mentality and the ability to see beyond even in those times, Aktif Bank commenced the
restructuring program called “
New Generation Banking” by initially determining the Vision and Mission statements, which form the foundation of the work for which it would reap the fruits in the future. The strategies that assured the Bank would be positioned in a unique place in the Turkish Banking sector took shape in the understanding of “Direct Banking”, “City Banking” and “Regional Banking.”
Striving to discover new products and markets in which conventional banks do not operate, Aktif Bank adopted the branchless banking, an extension of Direct Banking, as the foundation of the architecture that it seeks to construct, taking into consideration changes in consumer behaviors and the transformation in products and services brought about by technological innovations. The Bank positioned its services, not at “outdated branches” in Aktif Bank’s words, but at the physical channels of its business associates, as well as alternative distribution channels, which would afford the Bank a presence wherever and whenever customers need it. It has become the first Bank to integrate all its Turkey-wide bank branches with post offices. In this way, while allowing customers to implement transactions such as depositing or withdrawing cash as if they were at an Aktif Bank branch, the Bank also began to offer the opportunity to implement worldwide money transfers in a safe, easy and cheap way through UPT® (Universal Payment Transfer®). In parallel with its Direct Banking understanding, Aktif Bank presented specialized products to the customer masses whom other banks don’t reach by implementing the credit from branch system through “KreAktif®”, the credit factory accepting applications from any channel and producing instant credit decisions.
Aktif Bank has not just developed creative products in the fields of money transfer and credit, but has also led the way in many aspects of the
Turkish banking sector in relation to funding methods. Having exported Aktif Bono®, the first bank bond in Turkey with the “commercial paper” feature, the Bank was a pioneer in the establishment of the Private Sector Bond Market in Turkey. The first genuine ABS (Asset-Backed Security) issue implemented by Turkey’s first Asset Finance Fund established by Aktif Bank, which continues to implement innovations with no loss of pace, made a clean break in the capital markets and the banking sector.
As for the “City Banking” model, nurtured through the understanding of pleasing the environment where services operated, it took root in the daily life of city residents with its subsidiary E-Kent, as well as contributing to the economy of the cities in which it has branched out.
The Bank considers Turkey and its neighboring countries as an entity with its own geography and concentrates its institutional and foreign trade services in these countries. Aktif Bank positions every kind of activity pursued in mediation and finance for free circulation of products and services within its geography and ensures safe implementation of investments focusing on
Regional Banking services. The Bank successfully established the necessary well-supported teams, strong relationships,
flexible working models and appropriate platforms within the process of restructuring. As for the broad correspondent network expanding to 86 countries, this has been an indicator of cooperative skill in the international arena and strong business relationships.
Investing not in buildings and branches, but in people and technology, Aktif Bank has acquired human resources with well-qualified and diverse practical skills, a technological infrastructure of its very own, a profitable working pattern and partnerships.
Through the technological and organizational infrastructure constructed on its values and the “New Generation Banking” program which heralds that banking will be composed of new methods, Aktif Bank is the representative of many firsts and innovations in the Turkish and global banking sector.
Even in a very brief span of time, during which many achievements to date are summarized in this book, Aktif Bank has been recalled as an innovative, initiator institution on an international scale.
