Victoriabank and its victories. The story of the first bank in the Republic of Moldova

Victoriabank took the first steps in December 1989, in the Republic of Moldova. It received the name of Victoriabank, as a symbol of the "struggle for victory" or, in other words, of the ambition to grow. For 30 years, Victoriabank has been galloping, galloping symbolized including by the horse that was part of the bank's logo until December 2019 and confirmed by the bank's ranking in the top three largest banking institutions in the Republic of Moldova. Since 2018, Victoriabank has entered a totally new stage: BT became a shareholder and so began the strategic partnership, in the neighboring country, with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Since 2019, Victoriabank has a new brand identity, which suggests even better the desire to score new victories. Let's find out his story!

"I was immediately conquered by the idea of setting up a bank"

In 1989, around this time, Victor Turcan, Chairman of the Board of Directors, founder and shareholder of Victoriabank, received a proposal from Mrs. Galina Proidisvet - at that time, coordinator of the Chisinau branch Promostroibank, and currently a shareholder of Victoriabank - to found a commercial bank, the first in the Republic of Moldova. "I was immediately won over by the idea of setting up a bank. I didn't have any money set aside, but I understood that it was something new and perspective. We started discussing ideas and doing the calculations. At that time, there was no commercial bank in the Republic of Moldova, and the first institutions of this kind had just appeared in Moscow and Leningrad, today's St. Petersburg" - Turcan told us, sentimentally linked to Victoriabank.

If at present the minimum capital necessary for the foundation of a bank is over 385 million rubles, then it was 5 million rubles, so discussions and meetings with possible investors in the area began. The first to believe in the idea and wanted to invest was the Association of Valeology, contributing 1 million rubles. By December of the same year they joined the idea of investors, so they collected 9.1 million rubles, almost double that was the minimum required. This was... first victory.

Victoriabank and its first steps

With enthusiasm, trust and necessary capital, Victoriabank was founded on December 22, 1989 by the State Cooperative Association "Valeologia", "Moldghiprostroi", "Moldghiproprom", "Moldghiintiz", "Aschim", "Moldgaz", Chisinau City Hall and Chisinau Glass Factory – now the largest glass factory in Moldova, founded in 1970.

The name of the bank was also established then. The first proposal was Valeologia - coming from the Valeologia Association, which believed from the beginning in the idea of the bank's success. Regarding the naming of Victoriabank, Valeriu Turcan recalls: "Although we were thinking of Valeologia, the Moscow State Bank team suggested that we find another name. It was exactly the period when all kinds of cooperatives were appearing with names like avant-garde, success, diamond. But a bank had to have a solid name. So we thought of VICTORIA,". The colours of the Victoriabank brand are blue and red, expressing the idea of trust, success and pride.

Another important step was the registration of Victoriabank at the State Bank of the USSR, on February 22, 1990. This was followed by the opening of the first unit, in Balti, the second largest city in the Republic of Moldova, depending on the number of inhabitants – now being about 140,000.

The story continued with the first banking operation at Victoriabank, which took place on April 12, 1990, the first clients being cooperatives in the area. "At that time we rented an apartment on Alexei Sciusev Street in Chisinau. To save money, we brought everything we could from home: tables, chairs, phones. The computer, then Robotron, was rented and, because I did not have a security guard, before I went home, I would open the computer every time and put it in the safe. We didn't even have an alarm system, outside was just a light bulb, shaped. We were 5 people in the team and each of us was fighting to win the trust of the founders and the clients through the first results. I worked hard." – turcan remembers. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development became a shareholder of Victoriabank in 1995, opening a new chapter for the bank.

Victoriabank ... first 

Victoriabank has marked throughout its story many premieres, offering its clients, with each of them, the opportunity to benefit first of the services, products and facilities to do banking. Some of these are:

• The first banking institution in the Republic of Moldova, information that is also part of its visual identity, being part of the logo: "The first bank in Moldova" (1989).
• The first bank in the Republic of Moldova to obtain financing from an international financial institution, from the EBRD, worth 4 million dollars to support local SMEs (1995).
• He issued the first cards in the Republic of Moldova (1997).
• The first POS in the Republic of Moldova was of Victoriabank and was installed at the Dacia Hotel in Chisinau (1997).
• The first ATM in the Republic of Moldova is also of Victoriabank (1998).
• The first bank in the Republic of Moldova that implemented the eCommerce program for online stores (2004).
• The first Visa Premium card (2004), Visa Platinum (2011) and the first Visa Infinite card (2011) in the Republic of Moldova.
• VictoriaPay, the first contactless payment service with the phone in the Republic of Moldova (2017).
• Possibility to pay contactless with your smartwatch (2019).
  
  

Victoriabank story, a new chapter starting with 2018

The year 2018 brought a fresh air to Victoriabank, since Banca Transilvania became, together with the EBRD, a shareholder. Basically, BT has set out to replicate its business model at Victoriabank, with the help of teams from the two banks. Banca Transilvania made the announcement in January 2018, through a press release."One year after this step, Victoriabank is enjoying everything new it has brought to its customers and its team: from the reorganization of business lines, the launch of products and services, to the regular meetings of the BT - Victoriabank team, for which flights Cluj - Bucharest - Chisinau have been part of the regular schedule for a while now" - Bogdan Plesuvescu, Chairman of the Management Committee, Victoriabank, told us. BT and Victoriabank talked about the first fruits of their collaboration in January 2018, and details can be found at here.

In 2019, a number of BT projects and brands were launched at Victoriabank, such as: Victoriabank Club, a personal and professional development program for entrepreneurs; Victoriabank Forest, in Budesti, where an area of 3 hectares was planted; Unlimited Package for SMEs; Victoriabank Friday, online banking shopping campaign; STAR Shopping Card, etc.

This is the story so far of Victoriabank, which today means almost 270,000 customers, 100 branches in over 30 localities in the Republic of Moldova, and a team of almost 1,100 people.

For Victoriabank, every victory means a step closer to the customers now and in the future.