Monthly Wrap-up: February

In January we’ve introduced to you our Monthly Wrap-Up. That’s our way to keep you in the loop about what we’ve been working on in a more human and simple language. We plan to share an update at the start of every month for keeping our promise to be more customer-focused and more transparent. We hope you find it useful – any feedback is weclome.

So here it is! Our new quick recap of what we’ve done in February, and an insight into our plans for the upcoming months.

TBI Bank’s February Wrap-up
February is the month of love.
And full of love it was.

What we achieved
4finance off-site event
TBI Bank has employees from 15 different countries from all over Europe. One thing that connects us all is the dedication to delivering the best services to our customers. But there is something else as well – we all love Bulgaria. So, when we were offered to host the next 4finance’s off-site meeting, we jumped on the opportunity to introduce Bulgaria to our colleagues. Wait, 4finance’s off-site meeting?
As some of you may know, we’re part of 4finance, a global leader in digital consumer finance operating on 16 markets all over the world – Argentina, Mexico, Finland, or Armenia, to name but a few. Every three months the company’s senior colleagues get together to evaluate what’s been achieved and how to get closer to the hearts of our customers. This time the meeting point of our colleagues was Sofia – and one hell of a meeting it was!
All participants in the event enjoyed a lovely stay in Bulgaria’s capital, ensured by a dedicated team. For two days strategies and execution plans were settled, plans for the future were made and there was some dancing involved as well ;) The famous Bulgarian roses, in form of chocolate (yes, there is such), and tea, was our present for our 4finance guests and colleagues. Hope this and our hospitality helped them love Bulgaria as much we do.
And – in case you wonder how we look like dancing the traditional Bulgarian horo, check it out here.

Fintech innovation reward – check 
Speaking of 4finance: Being part of a big global company, gives us the opportunity to be part of significant international projects. That was the case with TBI Bank’s Payment Hub, a system built entirely in-house by our Payment and IT teams, who put in a lot of extra hours into the project.
The Payment Hub is aimed at offering quick euro transactions to 4finance customers and allows them to receive their approved loans in real-time. Now, that might sound boring, but first, it’s a great example of how we put customers’ convenience at the heart of everything we do. And, second, recently in a tough competition among many other banks, it got awarded IT project of the Year in banking in Bulgaria. Needless to say, we’re happy and proud. What’s missing is a big office party to celebrate the award, dear colleagues from IT.

New laptops and a robot for the children in Veliko Tarnovo
Ok, in order to not make our IT department look that stingy, here’s a twist: They’ve recently decided to lead by example and make sure the next generation of engineers are both trained and generous. We gave away a couple of laptops and a brand new robot to the students from “Programmer’s Club” in Veliko Tarnovo so they can showcase what they’ve learned in class.
The kids are focused on things way beyond what’s expected of them – they work with maths, physics and robotics to get a holistic understanding of tech. We’re sure our paths with them will cross again ;)

Where we failed
Too much lift-ing
In parallel to the gradual process of rebranding our offices, we’ve recently had a refreshed look of our headquarters in Sofia – part of the caveat is the inclusion of some inspirational thoughts aimed at persuading people to use the stairs instead of the lift.
So far there’s been some progress amongst the most competitive ones, but there’s work to be done. We’re lift-ing too much in any wrong sense possible.

Our promise
More opportunities for e-commerce
What were you doing on your weekends? Skiing, binge-watching Nexflix, travelling? Whatever it was, you had it better than our colleagues from the E-commerce department. They did a lot of extra hours and spent the weekends at the office to make sure our innovative e-commerce platform is up and running. It offers point-of-sale (POS) installment loans around the clock and already made us the biggest online POS lender in Romania. The cool thing about the product is that it’s aimed at both e-stores (we help them sell more) and end customers (we help them accessing goods). Even cooler – we’re already testing it with some big merchants in Bulgaria as well. So what happens after all the improvements are made? Well, more and more happy merchants and end customers will have access to it. Weekends well spent, E-commerce colleagues.