Relja Marković: Addiko Continues with Innovations

Addiko Bank has demonstrated to the Croatian banking sector with its virtual branch that the future has arrived and that collaborations between banks and technology companies are not wishes, but a reality. As a participant in the panel at Lider’s conference Fourth Industrial Revolution, we took the opportunity to talk with Relja Marković, the Director of Digital Transformation at Addiko Bank, about innovations and the networking of banks and fintechs.

When they emerged, there was talk that fintechs would take over and destroy banks, and banks were questioned whether they feared new players in the market. However, not everyone succumbed to fear.

– From the very first days, from the first conferences, we invited fintechs to collaborate. We told them that we are always open to their approach. We have always believed that this collaboration is necessary – says Marković, explaining how fintech consists of the ‘fin’ and ‘tech’ parts:  – The ‘Tech’ part is interesting, creative, and it is very exciting to work in it, but when they move into the ‘fin’ part, they actually move onto our territory which is legally regulated and quite challenging. We have always seen space for collaboration here.

It took several years for everyone to realize that fintech is not a threat, but an opportunity for the banking sector to elevate digital services to a new level. – I was very pleased to see at the beginning of this year, when I was at the Paris Fintech Forum, the largest gathering of fintech firms in Europe, how this paradigm has actually changed and how now no one asks banks if they are afraid, but everyone talks about the need for collaboration between fintechs and banks – says the Director of Digital Transformation at Addiko.

The new paradigm in these relationships is evidenced by the innovation that his bank launched last year – the virtual branch. – With several fintechs, both smaller and larger startups, we managed to produce something entirely new and offer something new to the market. Last year, Addiko’s Virtual Branch was named the best European banking innovation across Europe, and we received the Retail Banking Europe Awards 2019 – Best Product Innovation. So we are extremely proud of that. It was a very fruitful collaboration with fintech companies – he concludes.

See how it was at the Fourth Industrial Revolution conference:

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Innovation requires courage, capacity, and leadership that understands the advantages of introducing new technologies. Innovations are included in the development of all Addiko’s products and are part of the bank’s digital strategy, Marković reveals, explaining how Addiko is at an advantage because it is ‘large enough to have the strength to enter innovative projects and structurally small enough to make quick decisions.’ We were curious if he envies fintechs for their way of working. – Working in a bank, corporation, fintech, or startup depends on the preferences and ambitions of each of us. I started in a company that at that time was not called a startup, but now it would be called that, and it is actually very valuable to have both experiences. It is valuable to have corporate experience in a startup to know how to approach corporations, i.e., banks; in a bank, such experience is also useful to know how to talk to a startup and fintech – he replied.

Finally, we tried to find out what is next on the agenda, whether they are working on any innovation.

– We are definitely continuing in the same direction with our innovations, with the introduction of end-to-end processes in our digital channels, but you will see more about that in a few months – Marković intrigued us.

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