Gergana Staykova interview in Forbes Romania

How do you see the evolution of your company in 2020 аnd how did the pandemic influence the business you run? 

The word that describes the evolution of TBI Bank in 2020 best is breakthrough. Despite the challenges we are all going through because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we at TBI we had breakthroughs in most of our activities. We have achieved results above our expectations. Of course, like any other business in the economy, we also experienced difficulties and slowdowns, but our strategic approach and agile response to the new market context enabled us to reshape our channels and operations, thus, to be there for our customers in the ways they need today.

With a clear focus on our customers’ and employees’ safety, TBI Bank operated without interruptions even during the state of emergency. At the same time, we kept on developing products tailored to this new normality. We’ve been among the leaders in providing digital finance solutions to Romanians in the past years, but in 2020, using  more innovative tools and technologies, we stepped up our game and were able to remain relevant both for our existing customers as well as to attract new ones. Let me give you an example: We’ve redesigned our product portfolio and were able to have market ready solutions in just a few months. Оne of them is TBI DUO, which allows underserved clients to take a cash loan with the help of a co-borrower. Another is Cash Zero, which helps clients who have immediate financial needs to take a loan and repay with zero costs in up to 4 months. And we have two other new exciting products on the way.

Related to deposits, we continue to offer competitive interest rates thus sharing our business efficiency with our depositors. Besides the great rate, we provide high quality support when onboarding our online depositors. Traditionally, people are not that comfortable depositing their money without interacting with a real person and therefore we decided to have designated customer support for our clients. This approach not only boosted our business further but elevated our depositors’ satisfaction to world class levels. Our Net Promoter Score, a key indicator of customer experience, is 80+ – an industry benchmark, reached by very few banks on a global level.

What were the business and personal lessons you have learned during this pandemic?

This was a period in which the team reached its highest level of completion and leadership skills development. All leaders made a huge step up, to delegate and to empower. Not being in our usual environment, we have increased the confidence within the organization. Also, we raised the speed of execution of all things we had to do in order to adapt to this new way of operation. The complexity of this kind of situation creates an environment in which many people are confused, so the most important role of our team, аnd mine personally, is right now is to act as a compensating factor. We should motivate and drive, but also show compassion.

We are going through a period where one of the main actors were the authorities. How do you appreciate the strategy of Romanian authorities during this time?

The pandemic has indeed put authorities all over the world in the spotlight and has made their role in society more important than ever. The context has been unknown, highly challenging and unpredictable, but the way authorities, the business environment and citizens in general have responded to the new normality is impressive. The National Bank of Romania (NBR) was one the first regulators in Europe to react in order to support the customers. And there are countless examples that show that nations acted like one unity in finding solutions for any major problem encountered this year.

What are the main 3 points of your business strategy for next year?

Continuous improvement and digitalization are our focus while ensuring our people’s and customers’ safety. Building and strengthening customers’ loyalty and engagement trough embedded products and services is also a key priority, as it can make a difference in the future evolution of a company. Lastly, we intend to continue pursuing the transformation of our network and channels so we can become even more accessible to our clients, while offering them a relevant customer experience in their interaction with TBI.

Since I know all this might sound way too abstract, here are a few details. Recently, we’ve separated our channels and products by giving them a respective sub-brand – TBI Bank, TBI Money and TBI Pay – each clearly describing what it is and what it offers, therefore improving customers’ experience. So, what will happen to each of them in 2021 and how it will affect our customers? TBI Bank and TBI Money’s network of 64 locations has been optimized in the past months to offer clients easy and safe access to the company’s financial solutions and this process will continue in 2021. More products will be added to the portfolio of these sub-brands. We keep on adding new partners and functionalities to TBI Pay’s merchant solutions platform – hence support companies sell more and make their services and products available to our common customers. And all of the above means that in 2021 we’ll continue following our path of being an inclusive lender and deliver value through our distinctive ‘phygital’ model, which combines services delivered in physical branches and a through a host of digital channels.