NEOBANKS: TURKEY With its internationalist outlook, in-app crypto tools and dizzying number of financial life hacks, Turkish challenger Papara is connecting users to a wider community, says Chief Operating Officer and Managing Partner, Cenap Doǧru In 2016, Papara, now one of Turkey’s leading startups, was launched with a vision of giving consumers access to financial services that were more relevant to their everyday needs, and connected them to a wider world. It was a vision that sought to bypass boundaries imposed by the traditional banking system and embodied an exhilarating sense of not just financial, but social freedom. That was two years before Turkey’s currency and debt crisis hit the headlines. Now there is little faith left in the Turkish Lira (TRY). Inflation is running at around 12 per cent and there has been a 33 per cent
drop in value against the dollar in one year. Turks have been snapping up hard and, more recently crypto, currencies at record levels – all this against a background of 14 per cent unemployment, depleted central bank reserves and Western sanctions. And that’s without the hit to the economy from a pandemic that has badly impacted tourism and trade. So, maybe it’s not surprising that consumers are increasingly turning to new methods of finance – more so because, while many people may not have access to traditional banks, a high proportion do have access to smartphones. Papara, an electronic payment institution currently applying for a banking licence in Lithuania, began by offering online money transfers, foreign exchange (FX) transactions and bill payment services, with deposits enabled into accounts via wire transfer or cash at ATMs, bank branches, postal outlets and even convenience stores. Among the many benefits of Papara’s services were that they were (and remain) mostly free, and available 24/7, online. Extremely generous cashback programmes, in partnership with monster
brands, followed, along with a card account for teenagers. Other life hacks, including split the bill, are coming soon, demonstrating how apps like this can easily bypass the traditional banking system by addressing real-world problems that real people face. The fact that a secure, easy and fast way to transfer fiat money to and from cryptocurrency exchanges has been embedded in the app since 2017, illustrates just how ‘normal’ Papara saw crypto becoming. And, as it turned out, that was a shrewd call. “There are lots of rules in the financial system which prevent people from reaching out for financial products easily,” says chief operating officer and managing partner of Papara, Cenap Doğru of the motivation behind the concept. “So, we said ‘OK, why don’t we give people the freedom to send and receive funds instantly?’ It was the idea of freedom; freedom to access financial services.” The startup’s target audience included more than 30 million people in Turkey who did not previously have access to the banking system – not necessarily because they couldn’t open an account with a traditional bank, but because they did consider having one was necessary.
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