ForteBank
When Guram Andronikashvili, chief executive of ForteBank, and his team decided to call their strategy for the year ‘Change 2020’, they had little idea just how much things really would change. Covid-19 struck early in the year, triggering an emergency lockdown in Kazakhstan and leaving banks in the country scrambling to find a way to continue doing business.
ForteBank demonstrated its agility from the beginning. It quickly put in place social distancing measures in its branches while those retail customers who had suddenly lost their jobs or been put on unpaid leave were given the option of seeking repayment relief completely through digital channels.
It kept its ATM machines filled so clients had access to cash, offered ways for its SME network to deposit cash into their accounts and make timely payments to their suppliers during the lockdown, moved to a hybrid working model to allow staff to work from home, and rapidly factored possible rising non-performing loans into its financials.
It also used a dip in business to roll out new services to its customer base.