In recent years, the banking industry has experienced intense digitalization. Fully online onboarding and lending solutions have become the norm for a significant number of financial institutions. We’ve seen traditional players take major steps toward digitalization, while new players have emerged as neobanks. But what are the tangible benefits of this transformation?
The answers were revealed in a new episode of the Zitec-inspired series, Tech with Impact, on Wall-Street, where we explored both the perspective of a technology provider and that of a financial institution that has made important advances in digital transformation.
Lucian Daia, our CTO, believes that the concept of a digital bank is often treated as synonymous with a neobank. In reality, however, there are several models through which financial institutions can offer digital services.
“One option is for traditional banks to reorganize themselves around digital channels and processes. Other times, we see spin-offs from traditional banks that operate independently, usually with very simple processes built from scratch, in order to target new markets or market segments. And finally, of course, there are neobanks, entities created entirely outside the traditional banking system, which nonetheless compete with banks in terms of services,” says Lucian Daia.
The advantages of digitalization are clearly visible both for customers and employees of financial organizations. Lucian Daia highlights elements such a:
“Generally speaking, digital products have a much lower incidence of fraud than traditional ones. Although the volume and types of fraud are constantly increasing, they can be detected and prevented much faster through digital tools,” adds Daia.
These benefits are also visible from the perspective of Tolga Banyocu, Deputy General Manager, Customer Solutions Division, Garanti BBVA, a financial institution that has invested significantly in developing its digital channels, particularly its mobile and internet banking platforms, as well as in creating fully digital experiences, from opening an account to applying for a loan.
“Digitalization has significantly simplified the access of new clients to banking services, eliminating the need for a branch visit. This transformation has proven particularly useful for younger clients, tech-savvy professionals, and people living in smaller towns where we don’t have a physical presence,” says the Garanti BBVA representative.
From the perspective of employees and institutions, digitalization has improved productivity and accuracy, notes Zitec’s CTO. Efficient digitization enables employees to reduce repetitive tasks and eliminate related errors significantly.
“One of the major banks in Southeast Asia managed to reduce its cost-to-income ratio by 20 percentage points, even though it was already performing above average, by automating a large share of its internal workflows,” explains Daia.
Digitalization also brings greater flexibility, as automated processes can be carried out entirely or almost entirely online, allowing team members to contribute without being physically present in the office.
Another key element concerns customer churn, which, according to Daia, is much lower among banks offering the best digital experiences.
For financial institutions serving individuals, having well-developed digital channels is now essential, Daia argues. This need stems from rising customer expectations for digital services that are truly functional and easy to use.
“We believe that, in general, improving operational efficiency through digitalization should be an integral part of every financial institution’s strategy. Otherwise, they risk becoming vulnerable, not only to fully digital competitors such as neobanks or fintechs, but also to traditional competitors that have already embarked on digital transformation,” adds the Zitec representative.
Beyond online onboarding, Garanti BBVA has also launched an online lending product for retail clients.
“This type of accessibility has not only increased customer satisfaction but has also helped us reach new segments, including digital-native users and people in remote areas. Still, our main direction remains clear: we want digital experiences to be intuitive, secure, and truly useful. We view quality as a priority, not a byproduct of innovation, and we constantly consider client feedback to continuously improve,” says Banyocu.
He adds that, beyond technological innovation, Garanti BBVA’s goal is to create value for customers:
“Regardless of the projects we develop, our purpose is to provide value to customers and enhance their satisfaction, starting from the real problems they face and offering practical solutions. We don’t pursue technology for technology’s sake, but for the benefit of our clients.”
At Garanti BBVA Romania, digitalization today focuses on improving key processes and customer interactions, not on abruptly transforming all operations through artificial intelligence.
“Although we do not yet operate on a fully AI-based infrastructure, we are actively preparing for that future. We are strengthening our digital foundation, optimizing data flows, and ensuring our teams are ready to work in an increasingly automated and tech-driven environment.
As for the banker’s role, we believe it is already evolving. Even without full AI implementation, tools like digital signatures, remote authentication, and online lending platforms are transforming how our teams interact with clients. Technology has become an essential part of our activity, not just an optional feature,” adds Banyocu.
From a broader industry perspective, Daia notes that most of Zitec’s financial-sector clients are either organizations that have built their operations on a solid technological foundation or those that have chosen to rethink most of their processes through technology integration.
“These approaches have greatly contributed to project success. Our role is not only to help design processes together with clients but also to ensure the implementation and operation of the required software platforms. Two recently developed projects that illustrate how technology can boost efficiency are a consumer financing platform and a lending platform for SMEs.
The embedded consumer finance platform, for example, processes over 3 million loans per year, with an average approval time of under one minute and a default rate lower than the banking sector’s NPL average. The company operates all functions with fewer than 50 employees, only a fraction of whom are dedicated to consumer finance,” Daia explains.
He adds that this level of efficiency is possible because every process was redesigned from scratch, based on the premise that it must be fully automated and easy for customers to navigate, even if that meant significant changes in internal roles and workflows.
“As for the SME lending platform, the story is similar: all processes were adapted to support its optimal operation. The result is the ability to process over 650 loan requests per day, most of them fully automated, with fewer than 10 employees dedicated to analysis and financing. The median processing time is a few hours for approvals and just minutes for rejections. This has allowed the company to allocate capital exclusively to the most profitable investments relative to risk, achieving a risk-adjusted net interest margin roughly three times higher than the banking system average,” the Zitec representative adds.
Market trends, as well as what we see in practice with our clients, confirm that banking leaders see artificial intelligence playing a key role in improving operational efficiency. Areas such as KYC (Know Your Customer) and fraud detection already show high potential for automation and optimization through machine learning. Likewise, Generative AI (GenAI) has the potential to revolutionize customer success processes, from internal support agents assisting call center staff to intelligent chatbots. All of these are gradually transforming frontline roles and how banks deliver services.
“We believe that automation and AI will increasingly become part of more and more processes, and those who embrace this transformation early will be best prepared for the future,” adds the Garanti BBVA representative.
When deciding which steps to take, the bank relies on a mix of internal strategy, customer feedback, and best practices from the region.
“Our approach to digital development balances internal strategy with client feedback. On one hand, we look at our strategic priorities and identify the processes whose digitalization would bring the greatest benefit for both us and our clients. On the other hand, we closely monitor how clients interact with our services, what features they use most, where they encounter difficulties, and what they ask for, whether it’s faster onboarding, more flexible payment options, or easier credit access,” says the Garanti BBVA representative.
Additionally, the bank draws inspiration from the best practices of the BBVA Group and the region, to stay aligned with customer needs and the latest technologies. While some areas are influenced by regulatory requirements, such as KYC, many of the bank’s improvements are driven by a simple and consistent objective: to make customers’ lives easier.
When it comes to generative AI, a component of artificial intelligence that has become highly popular thanks to tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot, Lucian Daia offers several examples of how it could reshape the financial industry.
“Although it may sound surprising, according to an IDC study conducted at the end of 2024, the financial industry (and banks in particular) is Europe’s largest consumer of AI and Generative AI, surpassing even the tech sector. From our experience, while some of these investments are purely experimental, many use cases are already producing strong results and returns, which in turn fuels additional AI investment budgets,” says Daia.
The most successful implementation scenarios so far focus on internal processes, rather than customer-facing ones.
Concrete examples include: helping employees make decisions aligned with internal procedures and best practices (via email or chat), extracting data from client-submitted documents (especially in SME or corporate banking), creating materials for regulators, generating personalized sales scripts, automatically tagging transactions, and providing contextual customer support.
“Regarding the GenAI adoption process, it involves two levels: training employees to use GenAI tools in daily work (through prompt engineering techniques), and developing or expanding applications by integrating GenAI. In the latter case, our process involves collaborating with multiple departments to identify business needs and implementation ideas, selecting the 5–10 most promising ones, building a business case for each, and then developing a proof of concept (PoC) for those that prove viable,” explains Daia.
Although the number of successful GenAI use cases is steadily growing, Daia believes we are still far from the point where this technology can be integrated into most workflows or used based on superficial analysis.
“We recommend that each institution start with small-scale, carefully selected experiments, integrate into production only those initiatives that prove effective, and then move on to the next set of tests,” concludes Lucian Daia.
This article consolidates insights from Zitec’s CTO, Lucian Daia, and Tolga Banyocu, Deputy General Manager of Customer Solutions at Garanti BBVA, originally shared in a Wall Street Journal Romania interview on technology’s role in the financial services sector. The initial piece was produced under Zitec’s guidance in collaboration with top Romanian journalists. This derivative work offers an extended perspective and in-depth analysis of industry developments.