Executive summary |
• Consumers well disposed to new technology • Big east/west divide in financial infrastructure • E-commerce is small but growing • Greater use of data is increasing sales opportunities • Older generation starting to participate • Mobile users now outnumber online at Akbank |
Euromoney How important is direct banking as a source of growth and profitability for banks in Turkey?
OO, Akbank In the early days, the main purpose of online banking, and digital in general, was generating cost efficiencies by moving transactions to digital channels and serving customer needs outside of branches. With the introduction of mobile, that trend has been more or less completed. Today 85% of financial transactions in Turkey take place outside branches, and if you include actions such as checking credit card statements or account balances then the proportion goes up to 95%. Our focus now is on how to use digital to add to the bottom line in terms of profits and revenues. Currently for the simplest products, such as cash loans on credit cards, around 90% of sales are via digital channels, while for more typical retail banking products such as general purpose loans, overdraft facilities, credit card issuance and insurance the figure is around 30%.
