Alternative Distribution Channels

İşbank distinguishes itself through its innovative and original alternative distribution channels.

İşbank laid the foundations of non-branch banking in Turkey back in 1982 when it introduced the country to its “Bankamatik” line of automated teller machines. Since then the Bank has continued to distinguish itself through the use of innovative technology and solutions that make life easier for its customers.

İşbank’s goal is to offer the very best in service and to be the Bank closest to its customers.

All channel management activities at İşbank concentrate on:

• ensuring that the innovative and creative solutions that are developed through the effective use of technology are simple enough to make life easier for customers,
• allowing transactions to be performed conveniently through whatever channel is the most appropriate to a customer’s needs.

Gradually shifting operational workloads away from the Bank’s “bricks and mortar” service network and over to its alternative delivery channels is vitally important to achieving these two goals.

More than 74% of İşbank’s banking transactions took place via its alternative distribution channels in 2011.

In addition to having a branch network whose reach extends to every part of the country, İşbank supplies an uninterrupted and highly diversified array of banking services via its:

• Internet Banking Branch
• Bankamatik (ATMs)
• Telephone Banking Branch
• Call Center
• İşCep (Mobile Banking application)
• İşWap (WAP Banking application)
• İşPad (iPad Banking application)

İşbank regards shifting customer transactions as much as possible to alternative distribution channels as a way of reducing the branches’ operational workloads and thus allowing them to devote their time more productively to engaging in closer customer contacts and making sales. Two other outcomes of this strategy are to cut customer waiting times at branches and to reduce branches’ operational costs.

In 2011 İşbank continued to develop the product and service diversity of its alternative distribution channels and to consistently expand their transaction volumes. In 2010, 69.7% of the Bank’s transactions were conducted via its interactive channels, call centers and ATM network. In 2011, this percentage rose to 74.8% while over the same twelve-month period, the percentage of branch-conducted transactions fell from 30.3% to 25.2%.

Developments taking place in İşbank’s alternative distribution channels in 2011 are summarized below.

Bankamatik: The generic name for automated teller machines in Turkey since 1982.

• The total number of Bankamatiks at end-2011 stood at 4,538, of which 1,295 were standard units, 2,966 were Bankamatik+ units and 277 were cash recycling units.
• İşbank remained the bank with Turkey’s most extensive ATM network, a market of which it controls a 14.0% share.
• Bankamatik user interfaces were renewed.
• A pilot project testing Bankamatik units equipped with “cash recycling” features was successfully concluded. These units, which allow user-deposited and then automatically validated and sorted notes to be re-dispensed to customers making cash withdrawals, are now in service.

The number of Bankamatiks equipped with Turkey's first ATM-based biometric authentication system (Biyokimlik) has reached 2,300.

• Newly-introduced “Audible Bankamatik” units make it possible for the visually impaired to use the machines.
• Biometric authentication features have been installed on a total of 2,300 Bankamatiks (1,068 branches in 81 cities in Turkey and in TRNC). Biometrics serves as second-factor authentication in cardless cash withdrawals and also instead of personal identification numbers when cards are used. The number of customers applying for and making use of biometric authentication has been growing rapidly. More than 52,000 now make use of this feature.
• In line with efforts to increase transaction diversity of Bankamatiks, customers can now display and receive printouts of credit card statements, outstanding debt balances and billing-cycle activities. IBAN-based EFT, SWIFT and social security premium payment features have been added. It is now possible for customers to withdraw cash from their accounts held by Yatırım Finansmanı A.Ş. and by a number of other companies with which the Bank has entered into agreements. Bankamatiks now accept instructions outside normal EFT hours to make EFT transfers on the next available business day. “Automated Toll System”, “Prepaid Card Based Toll Collection System” and “İşbank Bonds & Bills” have been added to the list of products that can be sold through Bankamatiks.

14.0%

İşbank remains the Bank with Turkey's most extensive ATM network with a 14.0% market share.

• As yet another İşbank first in the sector, contactless cards can now be used to make cash withdrawals from Bankamatiks.
• İşbank’s www.bankamatik.com.tr website has become operational. In addition to greatly simplifying and personalizing Bankamatik-related actions, this website also accepts Bankamatik card applications. Among the many innovative and convenient features available from the website is “Easy Account”, which allows customers to specify accounts that they frequently transfer money to. For the first time in Turkey it is now possible to make SWIFT transfers anywhere in the world from an İşbank Bankamatik.
• Bankamatik card applications can now be accepted through Bankamatik units. 62,000 such applications were received through this channel in 2011.
• A “My Bankamatik” (“My ATM”) feature has been added. This feature allows customers to personalize their Bankamatik menus.

With their elegant and plain look and with screens that can be personalized according to users' habits, the renewed İşbank retail and commercial internet branches have been designed to add speed and convenience to customers' lives.

Internet Banking:
With its new look and further enriched features, it serves much more people
The İşbank internet retail branch underwent a substantial overhaul in 2011. Changes that were made included improvements in the customer experience when transferring money and in the visual layout. The internet branch made its first appearance with its new features to users in November.

Work also continued on renovating the Bank’s commercial internet branch. In July, the new branch was made accessible to a limited number of users in a trial run. As of December, about 80,000 customers of 1,004 İşbank branches were actively using the new features. The network roll-out for the commercial internet branch was completed in January 2012.

With their elegant and plain look and with screens that can be personalized according to users’ habits, the renewed İşbank retail and commercial internet branches have been designed to add pace and convenience to customers’ lives. Users say they particularly like the welcome screen with its customer-specific information and also the more user-friendly transaction features. An “experience evaluation” function that now appears before logging out of the branch makes it possible to collect user feedback more effectively so that future improvements can be made.

Mobile Banking Channels:
Making banking available across the broadest range of platforms possible
The number of phone brands and models supported by İşbank’s İşCep mobile banking application topped 1,000 as of year-end. İşCep applications are now compatible with the Android, Bada and Phone 7 operating systems as well as with iPhone and Java. İşPad, which was originally designed to work on iPad units, was overhauled and made compatible with tablets running the Android operating system and with Blackberry Playbook devices.

İşbank is currently working on projects to further enrich the transaction diversity of its mobile banking channels with the addition of new options and modules.

Telephone Banking Branch
Brand-new applications for practical and efficient banking
İşbank renovated its Telephone Banking Branch in 2011. The branch’s menu was redesigned so as to make the most frequently used transactions more conveniently accessible. Instead of the four-digit PIN that used to be required when entering with a customer ID number, customers may now use the same six-digit interactive PIN that they use elsewhere.

To support customers who need help or information about the Bank’s alternative distribution channels, İşbank has launched an “ADC Support Line” that is manned by experienced customer relationship managers.

Call Center
Faster and improved services
In 2011, İşbank Call Center focused on providing customers with faster, improved services that was also more personalized. To achieve this, a new interactive voice response system was launched which allows customers to connect to the call center faster than before and which also makes it possible to provide them with faster, better service.

“Virtual Teller”, an innovation that İşbank introduced to the Turkish banking sector in 2010, makes it possible for Call Center customer representatives to deal face-to-face with customers at İşbank branches via a video link. This application was extended to 15 of the Bank’s branches in 2011.

Service that complies with EU standards
İşbank Call Center has been awarded certification of compliance with EN 15838, a new European standard on quality requirements for customer contact centers.

İşbank will continue its efforts to lead the way forward in line with its vision of and commitment to innovative multichannel banking.

30% success rate in sales calls
In 2011 İşbank Call Center made approximately 170,000 outgoing calls, about 130,000 of which resulted in a contact with an İşbank customer. A 30% success rate was achieved in sales-related calls.

In 2011 a customer satisfaction survey was conducted concerning issues related to the Bank’s call center and to its customer request and complaint management services. Action plans that were formulated based on the results of this survey led to improvements in customer request and complaint resolution response times. The Customer Relations Unit’s callback time, which was 3.20 business days according to January 2011 figures, was down to 1 business day, as of December 31st. The overall response time throughout the Bank almost halved from 3.15 to 1.69 business days during the same period.

In line with ongoing efforts to increase the number of ways that requests and complaints can be forwarded to the Bank under the Customer Relations Program, İşbank has established a social media presence for itself as well. Requests and complaints being received through these channels are now being acted upon.

İşbank alternative distribution channels in 2011…

• İşbank Internet Banking and Bankamatik pages have been opened on Facebook. This social media presence has not only increased the visibility of the Bank’s alternative distribution channels but also made it possible to establish closer contacts with customers who actively make use of social networks.
• In April 2011 İşbank launched its “Instant Customer” program, whose aims are to minimize the operational workloads and costs involved in acquiring new customers while also ensuring that these customers automatically become alternative distribution channel users. Aimed at customers who lack either the time or the opportunity to come into a branch themselves, this innovative program is the first of its kind in Turkey. Expanded to incorporate other channels (IVR, SMS, İşWap, Facebook), the program has generated about 40,000 “Instant Customer” applications.
• During the year, both awareness-focused and interest-focused marketing campaigns were conducted to make customers more familiar with İşbank’s alternative distribution channels and to increase their use.
• A new service introduced in 2011 allows customers who text a message to 4722 to receive a reply telling them where the nearest İşbank branch / ATM is. No charge is made for this service.
• As a security measure to prevent instances of fraud involving SIM card copying, mobile confirmation and reference codes are blocked and will not be sent for a specified period of time if a user’s SIM card has changed or is transferred to another GSM operator. İşbank now provides customers whose cards have been blocked in this way with a “Remove mobile confirmation code blocking” option on its Bankamatik menu.
• The Bank launched its İşTV application for use on the “smart TV” models recently put on sale by Samsung and Vestel.
• “Self-Service Zones” were opened at İşbank’s Bahariye and Göktürk branches in April and at its Beşiktaş branch in November last year.
• Customers are now being sent monthly electronic bulletins containing alternative distribution channels related announcements, news and innovations.
• To make people aware that biometric features were now available on İşbank automated teller machines all over the country, an intensive communication and advertising campaign was conducted via the radio, newspaper, outdoor, internet and mobile media channels.
• The bankamatik.com.tr website and “Easy Fund Transfer” campaigns were conducted and publicized via the TV, radio, newspaper, outdoor and internet channels.
• A variety of activities were carried out to publicize Bankamatiks in Turkey’s tourism industry centers. Such areas were given precedence in the program of redesigning and renewing the units’ housings and appearance.

İşbank will continue its innovative efforts to lead the way forward in line with its multichannel banking vision.
Within the framework of its multichannel banking vision, in 2011 and the years that follow İşbank will go on developing the ADC services that it provides by continuously and consistently improving and expanding such channels in order to:

• provide customers with a broad range of services wherever it comes into contact with them
• address and satisfy customers’ needs immediately and through the most appropriate channel.