Aktif Bank organized a press meeting in which its rapid rise in Turkish banking sector, important achievements in Turkey and the world and the innovations lead were described.

Aktif Bank organized a press meeting in which its rapid rise in Turkish banking sector, important achievements in Turkey and the world and the innovations lead were described. Önder Halisdemir, PhD., CEO of Aktif Bank, underlined the conversion experienced in the global economy and the dynamics triggering this conversion in the meeting, stated  that the banking sector is in the eve of a new breaking point and said "The outdated business model, in which the general managements are factories and the branches are factory sales shops, is being demolished. Today, the more the number of branches, the bigger the problem, not the power. Off-branch channels rather than the branches have the priority for the customers. Now the success in the sector is based on bringing the service to the customer, not calling the customer to the service."

Aktif Bank, “The inventor of the new generation banking”, continues to rise in the banking sector by taking safe steps. By growing 45 folds since 2007, Aktif Bank, which acquired the title of "The fastest growing bank of Turkey", organized a press meeting in which its innovative business concept was described.

“Urbanizing population lives by the trends, not by the traditions.”

Önder Halisdemir, PhD., CEO of Aktif Bank, who gave a speech in the meeting, said "In the world, the main trend is technology, communication and migration to the cities. This main trend converts the other factors. Urbanizing population takes its reference not from the past, traditions, but from the current trends. To create and direct a trend determine the global turnover. Large cities convert each other. The cities such as İstanbul, New York, Tokyo, London, Berlin convert the countries in which they are located. Now the majority of the country populations lives in the cities. The city type consumption templates are determinative."

Önder Halisdemir, PhD., who also emphasized the effect of the developments in the urbanization and in the information technologies on the service presentation forms, underlined that they had determined and responded to this change in the world while structuring Aktif Bank.

“We positioned our services not at the outdated branches, but at the off-branch distribution channels"

Önder Halisdemir, PhD., who gave a speech in the meeting, said that the abundance of the number of the branches does not show the economic size, but the size of the problem and continued as "We, as Aktif Bank, saw the branchless banking as the basis of the structure which we are trying to build. We positioned our services not at the 'outdated branches', but in a way independent of the space, which the customer can access at the time and place s/he needs.”

“Aktif Bank, broke the taboos in Turkish banking sector

Önder Halisdemir, PhD., who stated that alternative distribution channels are prioritized by the bank customers when compared to the branches as a result of rapidly changing technology, also said "The situation also changed for us, the bankers. Now the competition in the sector is through bringing the service to the customer, not through calling the customer to the service. The traditional banking is dying. The economies of the countries and their preparers are required to get ready for this. We, as Aktif Bank, noticed the changes in the consumer behaviors and the conversion in the products and services created by the innovations in the technology. We focused on achieving which is not achieved in the banking sector. With our innovative approach and entrepreneur business attitude, we broke the taboos in the fields of distributions channels, funding and payment systems, which are the areas we focus on in Turkish banking sector. "

Önder Halisdemir, PhD., who stated that Aktif Bank built its banking activities on a tripod as "Direct Banking", "City Banking" and "Regional Banking", explained these approaches as follows: "As Aktif Bank, we integrated the channels composed of internet, communication center, mobile channels and virtual networks and widespread real physical networks. By integrating the virtual world and the real world, we took the bank to the customer in place of taking the customer to the bank. We presented our vision and capabilities regarding the formation of the first 'Direct Banking' of Turkey. Each year we realize hundred-thousands of credit and money transfers, millions of card transactions intermediation, billions of funding without using the branches.”

Önder Halisdemir, PhD., indicated that they had into the capillaries of economy with "City Banking" model, which is a model that is a first in Turkey.

Önder Halisdemir, PhD., who stated that Aktif Bank's 'Regional Banking' approach which is based on providing finance services through new licenses, participations or partnerships in the nearby geographies, is composed of high know-how level of Turkish Banking, the developing economic relations and business volumes of the targeted markets and Turkey, said: "With Regional Banking, we take steps for attracting new investments to our country as well as spreading organically in the nearby geographies".

Aktif Bank, as a Turkish Bank, was elected as the most innovative bank of the world

Önder Halisdemir, PhD., who stated that the developments in the banking sector today are decelerating and what is performed in conventional banking is the technology adaptation to the already existing works, also said: "Banking got ahead of many sectors in technology and was integrated into the developing informatics world in a very short time. However, the sector cannot produce the products and services to open new horizons. It focuses on the increase of the prices of the already existing ones in place of acquiring new revenue items with the new products and services.”

Önder Halisdemir, PhD., who also gave information regarding the innovations contributed by Aktif Bank to the banking sector, said that Aktif Bank's funding structure is continuously expanding  and contributing to the formation of new markets in Turkey.Önder Halisdemir, PhD., who said "We realized the issuance of 5.3 billion TL until today with bank bills with 'commercial paper' nature which we invented and issued in the amount of 35 million TL for the first time in 2009. As the other banks followed us, it is a regular subject now for the banks to issue bills and bonds in Turkey. With the first Asset Backed Securities (VDMK)of Turkey which we issued in 2011, we achieved a total sum of 859 million TL in 1 year, and as the first institute in Turkey, we securitized our assets by removing them from our balance sheet", stated that they had realized the first "Islamic Debt Instrument Issuance" at İMKB at the amount of 20 million TL in 2012.

Önder Halisdemir, PhD., indicated that Aktif Bank returned from abroad with many awards thanks to its innovative products and services and said that Aktif Bank made it to the finals in 2011 in 'Financial World Innovations', which is one of the most prestigious competitions of the world, left behind the 4 of the largest banks of the world and was elected as the 'Most Innovative Bank of the World', and in the 2012 eliminations of the mentioned competition made it to the finals in 3 different categories together with very strong competitors and underlined that successful results are expected this year. Önder Halisdemir, PhD.,stating that they were awarded 21 awards in different competitions in the year 2012, where 19 were at the international arena, said "Finally, we proved our success in the international arena one more time with the awards of 'The Most Innovative Investment Banking' and 'The Best Structured Finance Bank' given by Global Banking and finance Review, which is the most prestigious publications of the finance world."

We are not creative, we are discoverers, new discoveries are on the way 

Regarding the new platforms to be presented in the months to come, Önder Halisdemir, PhD., said "Creation only belongs to God. God created cat which is never out of fashion. Whatever human beings do, whatever mankind develops with the latest technology, they all are out of fashion rapidly. We should not complicate making innovations by saying creativity and starting off from a wrong point. Mankind discovers and is inspired at the stage of improvement being parallel to the development. When we look at from this point of view, the innovations emerge easier. After all, nobody is doing impossible works. Development is provided as based on the opportunities of the era. In the coming months, we shall also present new platforms with our own business attitude in the fields of small enterprises, payment systems, insurance. These innovations shall eventually be reflected on the productivity and customer satisfaction in the country's economy."

‘Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not’

Picasso