Unibank has entered a new stage in its development in recent years. How did this process go, what are the Bank’s development goals and what innovations await its customers? Faig Huseynov, Chairman of the Management Board of Unibank KB, answered these questions.
– Mr. Faig, looking at the history of the Bank, we see that Unibank has gone through several stages of development. Can the new development strategy covering the years 2021-2023 be considered a continuation of this process?
Change and development have always been a constant process of Unibank. If we look back a little, “Unibank” has a clear line of transformation. After the first transformation, the second phase took place in 2012-2014. At that time, the bank was introduced to the retail segment as a lending bank and was quite successful. From 2018, the bank began a period of active lending again, and this process continued until 2020. Since that year, Unibank has changed its presentation in the market, aiming to become the “first choice bank” by taking into account all the daily needs of the customer, not just a credit bank. Within the framework of the new development strategy called “Your Bank” covering the years 2021-2023, we can consider the year 2022, which coincides with our 30th anniversary, as the “Unibank 3.0” transformation year. A new ecosystem has been created to become the “customer’s first choice bank” so that the customer can get all the banking products and services he needs in this ecosystem 24/7 and conveniently. This ecosystem is Unibank’s transformed branch network (Upoint), transformed customer service processes, a new card product (UCard) and a new network of self-service machines (UTM) served by this card, mobile (UBank) application.
–What were the factors that determined the development of the strategy for the current stage of development of the bank?
In modern times, changes happen so often that companies should review their strategies at least once a year. The main factor determining this strategic change in “Unibank” was the innovations taking place in the world and in the country, increased competition in the market, potential opportunities, and further increase in customer demand. In order to adapt to these changes, we carried out a very extensive market research together with consultants with extensive experience in the Turkish and Ukrainian market, studied the needs and wishes of customers, observed their daily life and revealed their difficulties and wishes. As a result of these studies, the concept of “Your Bank” was born. The goal of the “Your Bank” concept is to be closer to the customer. That is, your bank should meet all your needs. Therefore, we offered the banking products and services that the client wanted: we introduced the multifunctional, multi-currency UCard to the client, we created the concept of “Digital branch”, Apple Pay and Google Pay payment options were made available to clients.
– It can be said that Leobank is also a project arising from this new strategy?
– Yes. When researching the concept of “your bank”, we paid attention to two important aspects. The first is the needs and desires of customers, and the second is the solution of these needs and desires within the framework of banking products and services. Leobank, launched for the first time in Azerbaijan according to the principle of “mobile-only” (a bank without a branch), is a project aimed at customers’ wishes, requirements, their convenience, and creating a choice for the customer. The high interest in Leobank, the fact that it became the choice of hundreds of thousands of customers in a very short time, is an indication of how customer-oriented the project is. We observed during this year that the Leobank mobile banking service, which provides access to remote banking services for the client, served to significantly increase the interest of the country’s population in financial services. Today, the fact that 80% of Leobank cards are daily active cards indicates the customer orientation of the project.
– The work done within the framework of the new strategy probably ended at the expense of large investments?
– This concept, centered on the customer and his satisfaction, is accompanied by the implementation of numerous and sufficiently budgeted projects. In order to make the best services and products according to the wishes of our customers, we have been carrying out large investment projects for the last two years and this process is ongoing. The results of some of these projects are felt by the customer now, and some will be felt in our services and products in the near future. UCard, Leobank, UPoint – new branch model, continuously improved mobile applications, special IT infrastructure, internal processing center are only part of these projects. All these projects are aimed at providing customers with higher banking services and products.
– With the end of the year just around the corner, can it be said that you have fully concluded the measures envisaged within the framework of the “Your Bank” concept? This work is probably one of the great successes of your team in recent years.
– As the demands and wishes of our customers continue, Your Bank will continuously improve. Because the main goal of the concept is to continuously provide customer satisfaction. This big change, the project is, of course, the result of the hard work of our team with the close participation of international experts. But here the main thanks goes to our customers. As Unibank, we owe this renewal, development, and our place in the market to our demanding customers. If you think about it, our customers are among the most demanding, most ambitious customers of the market who want the best service and product. I want to hold my face to our customers and say: Thanks to your demands and wishes, we have passed the path of faster development and become one of the most innovative banks in the country. Thank you for always demanding superior banking services from us. You turned “Unibank” into one of the most developed and pioneer banks of the country.
We are also grateful to our partners who are always with us with their profitable offers and loyalty. In the end, I would like to thank each of the more than 1.5 million customers who walked with us on this path to become the most customer-oriented bank for their loyalty and trust.
