Garanti Bank: Improving customer service and preventing fraud with innovative wireless banking solutions

BACKGROUND

Garanti Bank is the third largest private bank in Turkey with 462 branches across Turkey and five foreign branches in Luxembourg, Malta and Northern Cyprus. Garanti provides retail, corporate and private banking services to over
6 million customers. Operating in an extremely competitive global environment, Garanti’s success is based on excellent customer service - be it via a face-to-face meeting, telephone conversation, letter, fax, email or now, by text message.

WIRELESS BANKING – THE NEXT STEP IN CUSTOMER SERVICE

Garanti has always been quick to recognise how harnessing technology can help it deliver superior levels of service, a fact demonstrated by its award-winning internet banking infrastructure. It was keen to take this one step further by providing its customers with the ability to access their bank accounts on the move. The bank knew that its customers needed a way of staying informed of the daily banking activities, in an easy, non-invasive way – wherever they were in the world. The answer was to send information and alerts via text messages direct to its customers’ mobile phones. Now customers can check the balance of their account, monitor the due dates and balances of credit cards, request a loan, top up their mobile phone and even transfer money – all through their mobile phone.

FRAUD DETECTION AND PREVENTION

One of the most successful SMS-enabled banking applications offered by Garanti has been its fraud alert system. The solution is delivered by the combination of two leaders in their field, Aristion, MasterCard’s cutting edge fraud prevention
application, and mBlox, the world’s largest mobile transaction network. This system simply enables Garanti to alert customers immediately to any high risk transaction taking place on their account. Once an unusual transaction has been
identified by the bank, Garanti’s customers immediately receive an SMS message to verify their transaction. “In an industry which loses millions every minute to card fraudsters, the necessity for a secure, simple and effective fraud alert tool is
obvious,” says Koray Turfan, Fraud and Security Manager at Garanti Bank. “The benefits offered by MasterCard together with mBlox’s worldwide connectivity have been numerous. Not only have we been able to prevent $403,000 of fraud within a year of the launch in September 2005 but by detecting fraud early we have also enhanced customer satisfaction
and confidence. In addition, by delivering a cost effective way of detecting fraud we have been able to cut communications costs, yet remain one step ahead of our competitors.”

“Since the initial roll out we have seen 99.92% customer satisfaction reported through our call center.”
Koray Turfan, Fraud and Security Manager at Garanti Bank

DETECTING FRAUD – HOW IT WORKS

Until recently, Garanti Bank relied on expensive call centers with manual processes to handle alerts for high risk transactions. Being able to stop fraud at its earliest stage has been crucial to Garanti - not only to decrease risk of multiple frauds and fraud losses but also to improve consumer confidence and loyalty. By signing up to the service, customers can receive mobile alerts about abnormal transactions. In the case where a high risk transaction is identified, bank customers immediately receive an SMS to verify their transaction. If the consumer believes a fraudulent transaction has been committed, the bank can be notified to block further activity. This speed of response means cards can be blocked in a matter of minutes, reducing the number of fraudulent transactions and the impact for the bank and the customer. Furthermore, creating an early detection system with automated alerts also frees up time for call center staff who are able to deal with other urgent requests.

MasterCard selected mBlox, the world’s largest mobile transaction network, to integrate with Aristion for seamless real-time delivery of the SMS alerts throughout Europe and through any mobile operator. Unlike any other SMS-based solution, Aristion’s connections to mBlox means the bank does not have to integrate its fraud systems with individual mobile operators or service providers. Speed is critical to prevent fraud. mBlox not only delivers messages rapidly but also provides confirmation to the bank that an alert has reached the customer’s mobile phone.

SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS

The introduction of the MasterCard fraud alert system has been a huge success for Garanti Bank. Mobile devices are rapidly becoming an important channel for banks to reach retail customers building on the existing channels such as internet banking and phone banking. For Garanti, the introduction of its fraud alert system has enabled the bank to build on its rich tradition of innovation to deploy a service which prevented over $400,000 of fraud within the first year of operation. In addition, the system has resulted in substantial improvements to customer satisfaction and confidence. As Turfan explains, “since the initial roll out we have seen 99.92% customer satisfaction reported through our call center. In an increasingly competitive marketplace we are only touching the surface of the benefits this will bring.” Whether at home, at work or on the move, Garanti’s fraud alerts will provide its customers a more secure banking experience.

Contact mBlox