Who makes the call?

“Sustainability must depend on processes, not on individuals.”

Marko Ranković

General Manager & Executive Director

Raiffeisen Processing Centre

Menity Leaders Talk · November 2026

Leadership in payments

What does a General Manager need from the people around him?

When a customer pays by card, the transaction may pass through Raiffeisen Processing Centre in Bratislava. The centre processes more than three billion transactions a year for banks across 12 countries in the region.

Marko Ranković came to Bratislava as Deputy General Manager after running a card payments processing company as a CEO in Belgrade. Now General Manager, he speaks with Menity’s Peter Nemčok about how he decides when his experts disagree, how he recognises who is ready to lead and why no organisation should depend on one person.

In this conversation

Five questions on how a General Manager decides

01 What did the deputy role teach you that you apply as General Manager?

02 When your experts disagree, what helps you decide?

03 How do you make sure you hear bad news early?

04 How do you know an expert is ready to lead others?

05 When a leader moves on, what should remain?

Making decisions

Price, risk, speed. Then common sense.

Marko describes varying how much he delegates and how closely he gets involved in operations. When deciding, he considers cost, risk and speed — alongside common sense.

What did the deputy role teach you that you apply as General Manager?

It’s hard to single out one particular topic. For many years now, I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to work with great people. This helps me try different approaches: I delegate more (or less) and get less (or more) involved in operational matters.

So I don’t know what I do differently, but I know what I do the same: I enjoy every moment!

When your experts disagree, what helps you decide?

Common sense usually sets things right.

Take into consideration the price to be paid (in monetary terms), the risks ahead and how to mitigate them, and how fast we can get there. Add common sense, and every decision is relatively easy to make.

Marko Ranković with Peter Nemčok on weighing price, risk and speed when experts disagree. Menity Leaders Talk.

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Peter Nemčok gestures while speaking with Marko Ranković during Menity Leaders Talk.

Problems and promotions

Hear it early. See it before the promotion.

Marko wants people to bring problems to him early. When considering someone for management, he looks for two things: whether people follow them and whether they see the big picture.

How do you make sure you hear bad news early?

I encourage people to put bad news on the table as soon as they hear it. Bad news, problems, issues — they’re there to be tackled or solved.

How do you know an expert is ready to lead others?

There are always two things. First, showing that people are following you.

Second, having the big picture.

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Marko Ranković gestures during a conversation with Peter Nemčok, seen in the foreground, for Menity Leaders Talk.

Marko Ranković with Peter Nemčok on recognising when an expert is ready to lead. Menity Leaders Talk.

Building the organisation

Dependency should never be personal

Every Leaders Talk ends with the same question. Marko’s answer is about how to build an organisation today: around processes, not around one person.

When a leader moves on, what should remain?

Every organisation has to be able to survive any of its leaders, so leaders have to make sure that dependency is never personal.

Sustainability must depend on processes, not on individuals.

Recognising when an expert is ready to lead is also part of Menity’s CEO & Board Advisory work. We assess internal candidates and compare them with external options. Sometimes, our recommendation is an internal appointment, with no search at all.

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About the guest

Marko Ranković

General Manager & Executive Director

Raiffeisen Processing Centre

Marko started his career at Euronet as a programmer working on card payments. He later worked in project management, fraud management and banking and led Chip Card in Belgrade. In 2020, he joined Raiffeisen Processing Centre in Bratislava as Deputy General Manager; he became General Manager in 2024. Alongside his work in payments, he teaches at university and mentors postgraduate students in Bratislava.

Marko on LinkedIn

About Leaders Talk

Leaders Talk is Menity’s editorial interview series featuring CEOs, board members and senior leaders across CEE. Each conversation examines the decisions, trade-offs and operating realities of senior leadership.

Guests are selected by Menity for the relevance of their experience. No fee is paid or received for participation. Answers are the guest’s own, edited only for length and language, and reviewed by the guest before publication.