İş Bankası CEO Aran: Hard times are behind Us. We can now foresee the next 3 years

Hakan Aran, the CEO of İş Bankası, Turkey’s largest private bank, stated that they had left behind the most challenging times for the sector, saying, “We experienced those times and knew how to manage them. Now I believe we are in a better phase. If you had asked me last year, I would have said I could only predict the next six months. Now, fortunately, we can foresee the next three years.”

Aran shared his evaluations on the economy, digitalization, and the future of banking with Euromoney, one of the world’s leading financial magazines, on the occasion of the Bank’s 100th anniversary.

Here are some of Hakan Aran’s remarks regarding the Turkish economy:

“We have left behind the hardest times and the most challenging regulations. We experienced those times and knew how to manage them. Now I believe we are in a better phase.”

“If you had asked me last year, I would have said I could only predict the next six months. Now, fortunately, we can foresee the next three years. This is a significant change. We now know all our risks, goals, constraints, and problems very well. I believe they are manageable, and we can make predictions for the next three years.”

“We can be sure about the direction of economic policy,” he says, but the Bank is also ready to change course when necessary. He states, “We always proceed with three plans: the base scenario, the worst-case scenario, and the best-case scenario. We never forget these scenarios while conducting our work.”

Aran ensures that İş Bankası will continue to work towards its long-term goals, such as digital transformation, regardless of which scenario unfolds. He comments, “Turkish banks are highly innovative. Most of these innovations stem from difficulties.” He emphasizes that they focus on deriving positive results from the challenging environment of the past few years, stating, “The risky environment of that period, the challenging regulations, and the difficulties we faced made us stronger, more agile, and more innovative.”