Petr Baron for Fortune Greece: “We are creating a bank that adapts to the future, where technology drives progress but people remain at the core of everything we do”

Our Petr, CEO and Founder-in-Residence, talked about the changes brought by technological developments in the banking industry, as well as our plans for Greece, in an interview for Fortune Greece. The conversation was led by the media’s Editor, Maria Akrivou. You can read the full interview below:

A team of professionals with extensive experience and expertise in the banking industry has set the goal of creating the leading challenger bank in Southeast Europe.

With a portfolio of €1.04 billion and net profits reaching €42.5 million, tbi bank is recognised as one of the most efficient and profitable banks in the region. Since it began operating in the Greek market in 2022, it has invested €150 million and provided loans totalling about €165 million, being present in over 5,500 merchant locations.

Petr Baron, CEO of tbi fs, talks to Fortune Greece about the future of the industry and the new services that will make customers’ lives easier.

Mr. Baron, in the two decades in which you have been in the banking industry, you have seen many changes taking place. How is the landscape being shaped today?

Looking back at the early days of my career, the focus was on expanding geographical coverage, which meant increasing physical real estate— branches, offices, and staff. Today, it’s all about what is inside your mobile and on your screen. It’s amazing to see how much the finance industry has transformed in such a short period of time. While it’s always been about managing money flows, the way we interact with those flows has changed significantly.

Technology has impacted many industries and fuelled change, especially in those serving mass audiences and catering to the needs of most customers. In finance and investment, we talk about TAM – total addressable market. The larger the market, the more investments it attracts, creating constant competition to deliver services at scale and at lower costs. This naturally leads to increased innovation in these industries. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are always driving innovation; they simply tend to adopt it faster, simply because they have greater resources to invest.

Putting yourself in the shoes of the customers, do you think that they have gotten used to all these changes?

People are used to interacting with technology much more. Social networks have set a certain standard for the speed and user experience that consumers now expect from other service providers. When cloud services, open banking and mobile adoption reach a certain stage of evolution, you lose those big barriers to entry that existed before in financial services.

People, in general, prefer not to deal with a bank if they don’t have to. But they must because banks are part of the financial infrastructure of society. So, they have no choice but to deal with a bank. That’s why it’s now a matter of embedded finance, where finance is available where and when you need it.

To power all these services, AI is making a huge difference. Generative AI is taking things to the next level and over time, it could become much more emotionally connected. But it needs to learn you – it needs to learn a lot of data.

Do you think that we are likely to see banks operating only in the digital world in the near future?

Twenty years ago, it was all about building branches and serving customers in branches or call centers. You needed to have people in branches who could make decisions about customers’ needs, loans or other services. Authority was delegated down in order to make decisions on a branch level. Then, in the early 2000s, a model called factory banking appeared. You had branches, you had people in branches talking to a customer, but they were inputting the application into the computer, and the decision was done centrally. The bank would centrally have a system or people making that decision. What happened now is that the system at the back stayed (just roles have changed), but the front started becoming either internet or mobile. Now you have either an app or internet banking. If you need a loan, yes, you can still go to a branch, but at the end of the day, all these paths will lead to automated central decision point.

tbi bank Greece stands as a prime example of this fully digital future. We’ve embraced a branchless, entirely digital model, offering Greek customers faster approvals, more convenient services, and the flexibility they need, all through our app and online platforms. This shows how the future of banking is unfolding, with Greece leading the way for us.

As a bank leader and executive, what is your biggest concern right now?

I’ve already been through several banking crisis cycles. I have gathered a lot of experience on how to navigate organizations through crisis. Now, as long as the crisis is manageable, it doesn’t scare me. I’ve seen very different situations. I’ve seen 2008, and after seeing that, not much can scare me. Definitely, cyber threats are a significant risk to the industry, but banks are also investing a lot of money to secure themselves.

I believe in looking ahead. Whatever has happened in the past is just that—the past. It’s all about learning from those experiences. You need to take that learning and use it to move into the future. I connect with the principles of Stoicism and have a deep appreciation for Greek Stoic philosophers.

How do you prepare for the future?

There’s only one answer. It’s a very simple answer, but it’s also very difficult. A leader should create an environment that attracts talent, retains talent and develops leaders within the organization- people who are forward-thinking, open-minded, and have a positive attitude toward life. In a fast-moving world, running a business, is a constant, everyday challenge. If you’re open-minded and paying attention to how other markets, companies, or industries solve problems, innovate, and find solutions, you’re able to learn and bring those ideas into your own business.

You don’t need to be Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk to imagine something completely new. You don’t need to be one of them. But if you want to be successful and drive a successful business, you need to stay open-minded and always be on the lookout for new ideas.

What differentiates tbi bank from its competitors?

tbi bank is much more a fintech bank than a traditional bank. It’s simply because we were early adopters. We saw an opportunity to change and transform, which has allowed us to outpace every market in which we’re in versus the competition. We are growing much faster than all our competitors. But it is not technology that drives us forward – it’s the people. People make technology work, not the other way around. We are culturally an organization which is filled with people who are allowed to learn, experiment, sometimes make mistakes, learn again, experiment again, and move forward. It’s a very different mentality from how banks usually operate. We’re building more of a technology business than just a bank, as banking is becoming more and more about technology. It has always been about math, and now that math is transformed into technology, into code.

What are your plans for Greece?

We love Greece and see huge opportunities in the market. We’ll continue supporting merchants to help them grow their business. For us, this is the key pillar of our strategy, partnering with more and more different retailers and service providers where we can really help them succeed. Even now, we’re already working with some of the biggest names on the market.

So far, we’ve invested around €150 million in Greece. That’s a huge amount for just two years, but we’ve already lent out much more. This month or next, we should cross €165 million in loans provided. We started with a focus on merchants, building our presence around them through both e-commerce and in store.

Over time, our goal is to offer services for customers’ daily needs, whether it’s current accounts, instant payments, savings, or flexible financing products that are easy for customers to use.

Next year, we plan to launch our new card in Greece and provide full banking services, which we plan to offer free to consumers. We don’t intend to charge for accounts, cards, or payments. For us, the cost of service is not as high as it’s for traditional banks. Since it’s a new market for us, we’re taking it step by step to ensure our existing customers are very happy with what we offer before moving on to the next service.

Petr’s motto:
Whatever has happened in the past is just that—the past. It’s all about learning from those experiences. You need to take that learning and use it to move into the future.

*You can check out the interview in the media’s websitehere>>>