Our colleague, Oana Ilas, Executive Director, Retail Product Development and Management at Banca Transilvania, was recently included in the Top 100 Young Managers 2019 ranking published by Business Magazin. The special edition features their stories — entrepreneurs and employees at leading companies — how they started out and built their careers. Let’s hear her story directly from her!

Results in my area of responsibility

• 2018 was a busy year, but a generous one in terms of achievements, and we’re pleased to have delivered the entire digital roadmap we set out in our #goingdigital strategy.
• January 2018 was a landmark for BT cards — a segment where our bank is the market leader — with the launch of an ambitious, first-to-market project in Romania: the BT Pay wallet, a new payment accessory — and more — in the collection of the same name. Last year we also marked other banking firsts: enabling Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay, and launching Romania’s first meal card, the digital version of meal vouchers.
• My greatest achievement is the BT team I lead — their quality, passion and energy. They power these projects and the ones to come.

Career milestones

• My career is intertwined with BT. Our relationship is soon coming of age. There have been many great moments and, certainly, many challenges along the way.
• A decisive step was my move in 2004 from the BT Cluj Branch, where I started out, to the Cards Commercial Department at the bank’s Head Office, a field I had already grown passionate about. From 2005 I took on coordination of the commercial card issuance department and, gradually, added the merchant acquiring business as well as projects and data analytics.
• Another milestone was 2016, since when I have overseen the commercial activities for lending, bancassurance, savings products and retail segments, which has given me the chance to approach our retail offering and projects in an integrated way.

Profile:

• Studies: Executive MBA – University of Sheffield, UK; Faculty of Economic Sciences, Marketing, Babeș-Bolyai University;
• Courses and training: leadership, digital, cards, innovation;
• Responsibilities: coordinating the following activities in retail banking: product management and development (current accounts, card issuing and acquiring, lending, savings products, bancassurance), segments, projects and data analytics, direct sales;
• Team size: over 100;
• She is a member of the Board of Directors of BT Direct and ERB Retail Services.

Looking ahead: “I believe the future of retail banking is closely tied to innovation, technology and customer experience, which keeps me constantly connected to the international environment and to a network of professionals in the field,” says Oana Ilas.