Could you provide a brief journey of how you arrived where you are today?
My banking career started with Etibank in 1983, a local Turkish bank. From 1986, I worked for Citibank for 12 years, spending the last two years in the New York office. From 1998 to 2000, I was the executive vice-president in charge of foreign relations at Kent Bank.
Then I moved to Türkiye Iş Bankası where I spent eight years as a consultant and a member of the management team responsible for business development and transformation projects, including a two-year executive vice-president position in Avea İletisim Hizmetleri, one of the telecom affiliates of Isbank. I finally joined Turkiye Finans in 2009 as an executive vice-president in charge of the transformation group to plan and implement strategic projects and was appointed CEO of Turkiye Finans Katılım Bankası in June 2011.
What does your role involve?
I am responsible for managing Turkiye Finans, which is a fully Shariah compliant bank owned by National Commercial Bank (64.7%), Boydak (21.6%) and Ulker (13.7%) Groups. My primary role is to ensure that the bank is successful in this highly competitive market. This requires an extensive focus on areas like asset growth, service quality, product development, asset quality, productivity and cost optimization. Funding the growth in a very dynamic and rapidly growing financial system is another challenging task for us.
What is your greatest achievement to date?
The transformation program that I have managed right after joining the bank could be defined as a critical achievement. Transformation projects have been implemented within the scope of our key strategic priorities.
To build an agile and a deciding institution we have restructured the organization, implemented new technologies, enhanced IT infrastructure, created a new data center compatible with international standards, revised key processes, redesigned our sales and service model, developed behavioral segmentation and started to use customer analytics methodologies/tools, integrated advanced risk management tools (rating and scoring models), built a comprehensive MIS system and recently embarked on building a solid performance management system to better position the bank towards its strategic goals.
Which of your products/services deliver the best results?
The Murabahah funding facilities that we offer more to small and medium-sized enterprises and commercial segments provide the biggest contribution to the volumes and revenues we generate.
What are the strengths of your business?
Our go-to-market strategy is based on a vision of ‘being recognized as the premier source of principles-based banking and investment for individuals and business owners in Turkey’, which underlines the importance of the principles upon which we base our activities. Value creation, sharing, fairness, transparency and reputation are the key strengths of our business.
What are the factors contributing to the success of your company?
Customer-oriented approach, well educated and highly motivated staff, focusing on basic banking activities, asset quality, strong capital base and strong engagement by our shareholders and employees are the key success factors.
What are the obstacles faced in running your business today?
The two main obstacles are the lack of a dynamic legal framework and the absence of liquidity management tools for Islamic banks. In comparison to conventional banks, the regulation history of Islamic banks is not that long.
The continuously evolving nature of Islamic finance and its growing institutions necessitates the existence of new products and adequate regulations for the financial industry.
Where do you see the Islamic finance industry in the next five years?
The Islamic finance industry has a significant growth potential. Retail banking, wholesale funding, mortgage finance, project finance and fund management are the key areas in which we expect to see a substantial growth in the near future. Islamic banking assets are estimated to be around 1% of global assets and this ratio could be easily doubled in the following five years.
Name one thing you would like to see change in the world of Islamic finance.
I would like to see a more standardized approach towards Islamic products to prevent confusion and controversies.