Idea will be the first 100% digital bank Made in Romania

With the completion of Idea's integration into the BT Group and the recent announcement of the new CEO of Idea::Bank, Gabriela Nistor, the natural question that arises is What are Banca Transilvania's plans with Idea::Bank? BT's plan is to build the first digital bank in Romania around Idea::Bank, intended for customers who have an appetite for remote banking.

I recently responded to Ziarul Financiar's invitation to participate in ZF Live for an exclusive interview on this topic.

When will be launched a first product Idea and to whom it will address, what we go with next, what other plans we have for Idea::Bank – all the answers are in this video interview and in the synthesis contained in the following...

Gabriela Nistor, Deputy General Manager at Banca Transilvania, future General Manager Idea::Bank:

Opportunity

• A month ago I wouldn't have thought of that. I think I was offered this position due to the projects and results I had over time and because I have a very well built retail team at Banca Transilvania. But after I received the proposal, it seemed to me that I could not miss the construction of the first made in Romania digital bank and I am particularly honored by this challenge.
• I've been BT's deputy general manager for 10 years, but my story at the bank started 27 years ago. I started at the counter and went through several stages – from credit officer to marketing, being the first marketing director at BT. Later, in 2000, I set up the entire card business in BT – which became a beautiful success story – and then I took over the retail banking part, where I kept growing up. over time.

On the road

• Idea::Bank starts with investment from Banca Transilvania. In the future, it needs a critical mass of customers to support the business.
• We want to build from scratch everything that means the infrastructure of a digital bank, with core banking, processing, etc.
• There are several models of digital banks. I don't think the platform itself or what you're building necessarily makes the difference, but this mix between the platform you make, the way you interact with your customers and who you're addressing.

Products

• In 9 – 12 months we have to go out with a basic product for individual customers. The difference has to be made by the positioning of the product, we have to come up with something different.
• Mortgages are not yet put on the roadmap. At the moment there are consumer loans, current accounts, debit card.

The ground is ready

• The retail client has changed a lot. With the pandemic, people suddenly started buying online. Also during the pandemic, the fear of cash appeared and they quickly went online and got used to it. For example, in the early stages of the pandemic, half a million BT customers made the first online transaction of their lives. Then a good portion of them were left with this behavior. That's where we're going to go.

Going digital

• The concept of the digital bank eliminates the physical network, but we will keep the call center with the related team.

Equip:

• Idea management members are in position, we have to complete the team on the technical side. The bankers we have, the IT-know we're going to need.
• We have a team from Idea::Bank, in Bucharest, of over 100 people, which will serve all the clients and with which we can start.

Plans

• For the next 3 to 5 years the investments will be of several tens of millions of euros, in different stages.
• The name of the bank will be changed because the brand now belongs to the Polish group Getin Holding.

Idea's integration into the BT Group meant the involvement of 250 people from Banca Transilvania and Idea::Bank, but also 26,000 new clients, 80,000 transferred products (accounts, loans and cards) and 7 Idea offices transformed into BT agencies. 

We did it again!