Finance and banking are associated first and foremost with numbers, figures and ratios. Performance and goals are expressed in numbers; so are current position and status. Yes, the finance sector likes numbers, because things that are quantifiable have priority and talking about measurement means talking about numbers since those that are not measured cannot be improved.

As Garanti BBVA, we have transformed figures into data, and data into different dimensions through analyses. Making use of qualitative and quantitative research, we have given direction to individuals’ and organizations’ decision-making processes and strategies with our expertise and holistic perspective. We have digitalized our business to make our customers’ lives easier, and we have developed mobile applications for them to quickly implement the right financial decisions. In brief, we have measured, listened, understood, interpreted, developed, implemented and delivered throughout our existence. Our starting point was to create value for all our stakeholders. With the set of values and principles that define us, as Garanti BBVA, we have promised to use our products and services for the purpose of bringing the age of opportunity to everyone. Most importantly, as much as our good command of data, what set us apart was the meanings we attached to our activities, commitments, and words while interpreting and improving outputs.

In Garanti BBVA Integrated Annual Report 2020, we wanted to share what words meant to us in 2020, a year that was marked by our tireless work to create responsible and sustainable value in uncertain and dire times, especially through the pandemic days. We combined numbers with words. These are the words that empower our story and make us who we are: Trust, Pioneer, Sustainability, Responsibility, Agility, Success, Digitalization, Experience, Empathy and Transparency.

We know that words become meaningful because of the people who utter them. We exist with our employees who utter these words with conviction, and with our customers, business partners and all our stakeholders who find these words worthy of us. And in reality, we sign our name under each one of them and add meaning to our commitment in the story we author with these words. We believe that our success and its continuity are underpinned by TRUST. We prove our PIONEER position with the firsts we have accomplished in the banking sector to date. With our SUSTAINABILITY initiatives, we truly live up to this concept; we shape sustainability with our commitment to create a robust and successful business model for the future by sharing longlasting values with our stakeholders. We feel responsible, primarily, for the world we live in, for our environment, our employees, our customers, and most of all, for our own operations. We act with this sense of RESPONSIBILITY at all times. According to us, AGILITY, taking action swiftly, being dynamic and effective in the digitalizing order that races against time, leading innovation while empowering our employees, flexibility and creativity are all absolute essentials for our business. It takes an agile organization to quickly and efficiently respond to opportunities and threats. At Garanti BBVA, its people are the enablers behind the word success. At the heart of all our achievements, of all the commitments we delivered, and of our sustainable value creation lies the invaluable human capital of Garanti BBVA that works as one team, rendering us successful and bringing us the numerous awards we have been crowned with to date. With our investments in DIGITALIZATION and with the projects we have launched that served as a model for the sector and even for the business world, we have proven that we are not influenced by digital transformation, but that we live by digitalization and empower our stakeholders by becoming digitalized. EXPERIENCE is the phenomenon that leaves its mark on our lives and underpins the existence of the words we have listed above. Our longstanding experience not only makes us the best and defines our mastery in our business, but it also determines the impact of our human-centric activities as we design the journeys of our employees and customers. For Garanti BBVA, empathy is the most successful way of connecting with its stakeholders. EMPATHY is vital within our cordial, real and longlived relationships, our values, communication and culture. And we believe that all of these are possible only through clearness and TRANSPARENCY. Accountability and responsibility are enabled by a transparent governance model and lay the foundation for trust.

In our report, a group of 50 individuals ranging from our Board members to senior management, executives from subsidiaries to directors of business lines, regional office and branch managers shared what all these words mean to Garanti BBVA, the meaning we attach to these words, and the value we create by honoring our commitment. Having ended 2020 successfully, Garanti BBVA will continue in the years ahead to constantly improve its business model, to understand and quickly address and satisfy evolving customer needs and expectations, to empower its employees, to provide for the benefit of society, and to work for creating value for all of its stakeholders and for bringing the age of opportunity to everyone.