OTP Bank Romania launched the first Thanks Bank in Romania

Cristina Blanaru Business, Creativity, Digital & Media

At its 15th anniversary on the local market, OTP Bank România launched the Thanks Bank, one of the largest digital initiatives dedicated to gratitude. The project aims to increase the gratitude level amongst Romanians and to inspire people to say “Thank you!” more often, in the most popular digital formats. The Thanks Bank is also a national premiere, being the first of this kind launched by a company in the banking field.

The initiative came following a study developed by OTP Bank România which analyzed, on a national scale, the gratitude culture of Romanians: when, how and how much they say “Thank you”, both online and offline.

  • About the gratitude culture of Romanians: perceptions and behaviors

In România, the gratitude culture is perceived differently by various age groups. The Z generation regards gratitude and being thankful as normal, having no difficulty in expressing them, while the Millennials regard it as a way of being polite, respectful. People with ages between 31 and 45 are guided by Karma and by the desire or expectation that the gesture will be returned and rewarded somehow, while seniors perceive gratitude rather in the sense of mutual exchange of favors, of owing something.

Although 92% of Romanians agree that thanking is a sign of being raised well, only half of Romanians said thank you, during the last week, to close family members such as their partner or parents and only six out of ten to a foreigner.

Six out of ten Romanians say that their friends do not thank them for the support they offer, seven out of ten do not feel appreciated by their relatives and 50% of the study respondents do not feel appreciated by their life partner. As for work, the situation is even more worrying: eight out of ten Romanians do not feel appreciated by their colleagues.

In România, women say „thank you” more often than men (78% vs. 65%) and they smile more on a daily basis (68% vs. 54%). The people who show their gratefulness the most are those aged over 60. They almost always use „thank you” (93% vs 79% other categories) and they smile more than the other age groups (70% vs. 57% all categories).

The study respondents consider that Romanians lack the gratitude culture, as they are not able to express gratitude in many situations. According to the study, several barriers prevent Romanians from expressing their gratitude: envy, selfishness, lack of education, fear of not owing something and gratitude seen as a sign of weakness.

Romanians’ gratitude is an under-researched and under-cultivated resource. Under these circumstances, I think the initiative of revealing and promoting it on a national level is a great one, all the more so as the recognition of gratitude has many benefits: it improves the mood, health, strengthens interactions and relationships, and increases the ability to manage stress successfully

Daniel David,

president of The Association of Psychologists in Romania and professor of clinical cognitive sciences at Babeş-Bolyai University (UBB) in Cluj-Napoca.

  • OTP Bank România launched the largest digital initiative dedicated to gratitude – The Bank of Thanks

Taking into account the national context, OTP Bank România launched the Bank of Thanks, a content platform containing a diversified palette of formats (gif, video, photo, audio). Bancademultumiri.ro aims to increase the online frequency of thanks – the platform’s content is now available in Facebook chat, Instagram chat and Linkedin chat – and to encourage people to create new content around kindness. Users also have the opportunity to contribute by submitting audio, video, gif or photo thanks and thus they can win a super holiday in Bali.

The study results showed that, in online, the most utilized emoji to express gratitude is “Kiss”, followed by “Thumbs-up” and “Hug”, and “Mulțumesc” in its written version is the most used way of thanking in the digital environment.

Simultaneously, OTP Bank România starts the One year of thanks campaign – by committing to thank people for a year, be it employees, partners, suppliers, customers or competition.

We are celebrating the anniversary of 15 years of activity in Romania by thanking all those who have been with us all this time, who have helped us get here and have the success story we enjoy nowadays. We are full of effervescence: we transform the way we work, we focus on our clients, we digitize products and services tailored to them, we open new branches. We are grateful for all that we have achieved and with the help of the Bank of Thanks we are trying to bring about a change for the better on a collective level

Diana Mișa,

HR Director OTP Bank România.

OTP Bank Romania, subsidiary of OTP Group, is an integrated and self-funded provider of financial services. With an approach based on responsibility, commitment and professionalism, OTP Bank Romania understands its clients’ needs and the current market context, being a reliable partner in the area of financial services. The bank ranks 9th by assets in the top of Romanian banking players, as of September 2018.

OTP Group celebrates on 70 years of existence, while the Romania subsidiary marks 15 years of presence on the local market. By today, OTP Group has grown into a dominant player in the Central-Eastern Europe market and is regarded as a major banking group even on European scale. The community of around 36 thousand OTP staff serves over 18.5 million customers in 9 countries daily.