The FINANCIAL — “Our market share in total assets and total loans stood at 25.3% and 27.2% respectively,” Vakhtang Butskhrikidze, Chief Executive Officer of TBC Bank, told The FINANCIAL.
The FINANCIAL — “Our market share in total assets and total loans stood at 25.3% and 27.2% respectively,” Vakhtang Butskhrikidze, Chief Executive Officer of TBC Bank, told The FINANCIAL. “During 2013, our gross loan portfolio increased by 16.6% and reached GEL 2,958.6 million. During 2013, total customer deposits increased by 16.1% to 2,886.9 million. During the year 2013 we maintained a leading position in the Georgian banking sector with the largest market share in retail deposits of 33.1%.”
TBC Bank is a universal bank with a traditionally strong presence in the corporate segment and key strengths in the retail and SME segments. TBC Bank has maintained the leading position in retail deposits (33.1% market share as of YE 2013) for seven consecutive years. Four prominent IFIs – EBRD, IFC, DEG and FMO, together with JP Morgan and Ashmore, hold 65% of TBC Bank shares.
Q. Mr Butskhrikidze, how would you evaluate the year 2013 for TBC Bank?
A. In the fourth quarter of 2013 Georgia demonstrated a strong economic performance with real GDP growth of 6.9% as a result of accelerated business activities and improved macroeconomic conditions, following a temporary slowdown in economic growth in the first nine months of 2013.
The outlook for 2014 is positive with the various forecasts ranging from 5% to 6.6% of real GDP growth. The growth of the Georgian banking sector during 2013 was positively affected by the increased business activities in the fourth quarter of 2013. Consequently, during 2013, Georgian banking sector loans increased by 21.0% to GEL 10.6 billion, resulting from the 29.4% increase in total individual loans and 14.7% increase in total legal entity loans. During the same period, total customer deposits increased by 26.5% to GEL 9.7 billion with individual and legal entity deposits increasing by 24.4% and 28.7% respectively.
During the year 2013, we maintained a leading position in the Georgian banking sector with the largest market share in retail deposits of 33.1%.
Our market share in total assets and total loans stood at 25.3% and 27.2% respectively. During 2013, our gross loan portfolio increased by 16.6% and reached GEL 2,958.6 million. During 2013, total customer deposits increased by 16.1% to 2,886.9 million.
To summarise, in 2013 TBC Bank has continued on its path to sustainable growth and again delivered impressive results against our prudent strategic goals as well as having achieved significant milestones in developing the Bank’s financial strength, capabilities and brand value.
Q. How would you evaluate the development of SME business in 2013?
A. SME business remains one of the leading segments of the country’s economy. This sector has a big perspective of growth and development. Around 500,000 people are employed in the Georgian business sector, the largest share of which is made up by people employed in small and medium sized business enterprises.
The SME segment remains one of the key segments for TBC Bank. The Bank serves around 43,000 legal entities, which contribute significantly to the country’s economy.
As of 31 December 2013, the SME segment accounted for 13.3% and 15.7% of the Bank’s total loan portfolio and total customer deposits, respectively. Since the end of 2012, SME loans increased by 33.4% and deposits by 58.5%. Due to the core importance of the SME segment we have developed a unique programme to provide SMEs with business education opportunities and help them further their growth.
Q. What are the key services that you provide for SMEs in the framework of your Business Support Program and how does it operate?
A. The Business Support Program “7 steps to success” offers unprecedented educational and business development services to its SME clients free of charge. The Program consists of 7 components each of which is aimed at SME business development.
SME-targeted services include free trainings financed by ADB. Courses include budgeting, CVP Analyze, Social Media Marketing, HR, and Strategic Management. 1,063 clients have been trained as of the year 2013 in the framework of the programme. Along with free trainings, TBC Bank offers SMEs the exclusive and best-in-class educational web platform www.tbcbusiness.ge (financed by IFC and in partnership with IBM). Here, businesses can find a wealth of educational materials and resources, as well as tailored support from our partners from leading legal and audit companies. Readily available resources include tools for financial accounting, direct selling, and human resource management. The portal also offers pre-set materials, such as agreement forms, template accounting forms, and a Q&A blog. We’ve also developed a SME-tailored, completely new Mobile Bank for legal entities and an upgraded Internet Bank for legal entities.
In 2014, TBC Business Support Program will launch additional services like SMS banking services for legal entities, free business consultation services for SMEs and Business conferences for SMEs. We are very pleased that the Program has been operating very successfully so far and on a daily basis we see an increased number of small and medium enterprises using our programme and developing themselves.
Q. What would you cite as your international success story?
A. In 2013 TBC Bank received its first global recognition from Global Finance Magazine for its achievements in internet banking – the first such award for any Georgian bank.
This is the first international acknowledgement for any Georgian bank. TBC Bank was nominated alongside such internationally recognized financial institutions as Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Garanti Bank, and Scotiabank. So, it is a great honour for us to receive such prestigious awards from one of the most influential financial publications in the world. This success confirms that TBC Bank has developed one of the best internet banks in the world. This encourages us to maintain our leading position as an innovator in the market in the future as well.
Along with the award winning internet banking (www.tbconline.ge ) TBC Bank has the leading multichannel distribution platform that includes mobile, iPhone, iPad, kiosk and call centre banking. In fact, TBC was the first bank in Georgia to introduce mobile banking applications for iPhone/Android and Smartphones (2012) and Blackberry and iPad (2013).
TBC Bank was also recognized as one of the World’s Best Emerging Markets Banks 2014 by Global Finance Magazine, winning in the “Best Bank in Georgia” category for the third consecutive year.
Just a few weeks ago, TBC Bank was also recognized as one of the World’s Best Emerging Markets Banks 2014 by Global Finance Magazine, winning in the “Best Bank in Georgia” category for the third consecutive year. As you know Global Finance editors select winners based on the input from industry analysts, corporate executives and banking consultants. Best banks were assessed against criteria such as growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing, and innovative products.
Along with these powerful awards EMEA Finance awarded TBC Bank with two different prizes:
• Best Bank in Georgia of 2013
• Best Corporate Responsibility Performing Bank in Central and Eastern Europe
It is very important that TBC Bank is the first Georgian company to have received regional recognition for its CSR efforts in these annual awards.
It is very important that TBC Bank is the first Georgian company to have received regional recognition for its CSR efforts in these annual awards.
Q. Please can you tell us about last year’s brand update and your Corporate Social Responsibility priorities of 2013?
A. Last year was very important for TBC Bank in terms of the marketing innovation that we performed in 2013. We introduced several new marketing campaigns and initiatives that enhance our brand platform and allow for a more direct communication with our customers. These initiatives include sensory marketing launched in 2014 to establish a unique branded customer experience in 10 branches. The two elements of the campaign are: Sound – Generative Soundscape in the branches inspired by Georgian musical traditions creating a relaxing atmosphere; and Scent – a deployed signature Brand Scent, TBC Platinum, designed to stimulate the senses, stir emotions and help neutralize the stresses of the outside world.
2013 was a year of update for our brand as well. We launched the new brand platform using the theme of the Three Musketeers as “Client Heroes” for the TBC Bank brand. The first two campaigns with the new Brand Platform showed outstanding results: incredibly high awareness and comprehension scores contributed to a 46% and 113% increase in number of customer loans disbursed and loan volume, respectively, when compared to the results of the same season in 2012.
Q. In terms of Corporate Social Responsibility, what were the Bank’s priorities in 2013?
A. Social responsibility priorities in 2013 still covered the development of culture and the arts. Last year TBC Bank continued to develop its online art-television Artarea throughout 2013. The television channel that allows Georgian viewers to keep up-to-date with current events in culture, music and art is now available via cable TV throughout the entire country. The second largest direction in CSR was still literature – the Literary Award SABA and the Online Bookstore SABA. As you know the awards programme is one of the most respected and anticipated literary events in the country. To date, the Bank has recognized over 100 authors and awarded GEL 325,000 in prizes. The SABA online book store (Saba.com.ge) is especially important as it promotes Georgian literature beyond the country’s borders, as well as allows new authors to be discovered and appreciated. To date, tens of established and up-and-coming writers have created their own electronic books and sold them using our innovative e-book platform.
In the future we will continue to follow all of our priorities, further strengthen our business and maintain taking an active part in social development as well.