BR's 19 People to watch in 2019 | Ufuk Tandogan (CEO, Garanti Bank Romania): Focus on sustainable and healthy organic growth

For the past seven years, Ufuk Tandogan has been CEO and board member of Garanti Bank Romania, playing an important role in shaping a sustainable strategy for the bank. He is also the chairman of the board of directors of the two non-banking financial institutions within Garanti Group Romania: Garanti Leasing and Garanti Consumer Finance.

By Anda Sebesi

Garanti Bank is held by Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (TGB), Turkey’s second largest private bank. The Spanish financial group Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) is the majority shareholder of TGB. Present in Romania since 1998, the bank offers a series of products and services for all business segments: retail, SMEs, and corporate. Garanti Bank has been the 10th biggest bank in the system in recent years, growing in this position organically.

It has also been one of the pioneers of credit cards in Romania, launching in 2007 Bonus Card, a unique credit card and one of the most rewarding payment tools in the market, for both cardholders and merchants. In 2010, the bank introduced WWF Bonus Card, the first eco-affiliate card in the country, through which it redirects 0.3 percent of the total value of transactions to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF Romania), thus giving clients the opportunity to get involved in protecting local natural habitats, besides its own contribution.

As one of the most important digital players in the Romanian banking system, one of its main focuses in 2018 was the relaunch of the internet banking platform, Garanti Online, in an upgraded format. As a recognition of the bank’s good digital achievements, it was awarded in 2018, by the world-renowned magazine Global Finance, as “Best Consumer Digital Bank in Romania”, this being the 11th award granted by this publication in the past ten years.

In 2018 Garanti Bank continued to successfully deploy its business strategy of developing its client portfolio in a sustainable manner. This strategy led to obtaining a net profit, at Group level, of over RON 140 million as of year end 2018. Moreover, Garanti Group posted an asset size of almost RON 12 billion at the end of 2018.

In recent years Garanti Bank and Garanti Leasing have signed important agreements with international financial organizations, such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), aiming to facilitate the access of local businesses to finance, in order to grow and make their contribution to the economy. Since Garanti Bank was the first bank in Romania to focus on the needs of women SMEs, a part of these loan agreements had a strong gender component, being addressed to companies owned or managed by women. On a different note, in 2018 Garanti Bank was nominated as a Superbrand, distinguishing itself from over 1,500 brands analyzed by Superbrands Romania.

“We continue to have a long-term strategy in Romania, which can surely be regarded beyond the near future. Garanti Bank has been present here for over 20 years and, ever since the beginning, we have targeted a healthy development of our market share. As such, we will continue to diversify our products and services for all market segments, depending on our clients’ permanently changing needs, and we will be by their side, as a trustworthy financial partner. Therefore, our focus will continue being on sustainable growth and development, maximizing customer satisfaction, and the digital upgrading of our services,” says Ufuk Tandoğan, CEO of Garanti Bank Romania.