“Using Our 70 Years of Experience as a Leverage, We are Ready for the Next 70 Years in Our Country's Development Journey”
“Reaching 70 years as an institution requires experience, expertise, good management and correct strategies," said Ece Börü, TSKB Deputy CEO, in her statement on the 70th anniversary of TSKB's establishment. "On the other hand, a key prerequisite for continued success is not to fall behind the times, and even go ahead of it. We've always been a self-renewing, transforming bank. We are ready for the next 70 years with all our resources, equipment, business partnerships and, most importantly, our competent human resources. As always, we will continue to work with the same responsibility and vision, and add new milestones to our journey of increasing the production quality and volume of our country.”
Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, Industrial Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB) continues to contribute increasingly to the sustainable growth, development and transformation of the manufacturing economy in Turkey through its established know-how as well as corporate banking, investment banking and advisory services that it offers to its customers.
Issuing a statement on the Bank's anniversary, Ece Börü, TSKB Deputy CEO, said: “At a time when the world is undergoing such a great test as a pandemic, reaching 70th year means a lot to us. The experience of well-established institutions is crucial in overcoming such difficult days and building a sustainable future. As a development and investment bank, we consider it a responsibility to increase the number of organizations celebrating their 70th anniversary in our country. As always, we will continue to work with the same responsibility and vision, and add new milestones to our journey of increasing the production quality and volume of our country.”
Ece Börü: "We will continue to be the bank of firsts."
Börü, TSKB Deputy CEO, said that they would continue to be the bank of firsts. “As the first private capital development and investment bank in Turkey, we have acted with a great sense of responsibility as a mission bank since 1950. In all our work, we have offered considerable support for quality production while maintaining a development perspective. Since 1950, we have extended loans to support the domestic production of countless products in our country. In time, our firsts have also developed and diversified in parallel with the development story of our country as well as the new development models in the world. Today, we are the leading bank of Turkey in the fields of renewable energy, environment, sustainability, and equal opportunities in employment. In order to grow and diversify our funds for a productive Turkey, we are expanding our network of relationships with global financial institutions and resolutely taking innovative steps."
Börü went on to say that TSKB launched investment banking operations at an early phase and contributed greatly to the establishment and development of Turkish capital markets since then. “Through services such as IPOs and brokerage for the issuance of debt instruments as well as M&A consultancy, we guide organizations in their growth journey and offer our customers with an investment banking experience on a par with international standards. We will continue to engage in different initiatives in the field of investment banking in order to provide funds to our customers, particularly real sector companies, through capital markets. Furthermore, based on the know-how and experience we have accumulated for 70 years, we feel the privilege of being a bank that has acted as a consultant to businesses as well as financial and public institutions.”
Environmentally-friendly and women-friendly banking
Ece Börü said they adopted sustainability and inclusiveness as an integrated business model beyond loan themes. “Particularly in the last two decades, we have prioritized environmental sustainability projects on our agenda, and funded almost 300 renewable power plants as well as about 150 energy and resource efficiency projects. Through these investments, we are actively contributing to the reduction of our country's carbon footprint by 14.4 tons per year. The renewable power plants TSKB financed currently constitute 14% of Turkey's installed capacity for renewable energy. The share of all our sustainability-themed investments in our loan portfolio is 74%. This rate means a huge concentration of sustainability for a bank not only in our country but also across the world. This has led us to become the first Turkish financial institution to issue 'Green/SRI bonds' on international markets in 2016, and then to issue Subordinated Sustainable Bonds for the first time in the world."
Stating that TSKB had a rare female employee ratio of 51 percent, Börü also explained the bank's efforts on women's employment and equal opportunities. “In order to finance the investments of companies that support women's employment in 2016, we developed Turkey's first female-friendly loan program. Under that program, we first produce the equal opportunity scorecards of our companies, using the measurement tool we developed exclusively. Considering the companies we have inducted into the program in four years, we observed a 15% increase in women's employment as well as over 30% performance improvement in various development areas such as training, working conditions and representation in management. We are expanding this business model, which reveals a concrete success story in our companies, through the consultancy services we provide to companies operating in Anatolia.”
Scholarship for 70 female students exclusive to the 70th year
Ece Börü also explained TSKB's social responsibility projects in the field of equal opportunities. “We have taken important steps to empower tomorrow's female employees in the fields of education and equal opportunities. We launched the scholarship fund ‘Empower Through Education' in cooperation with the Turkish Education Foundation (TEV) in 2017, and have since been offering scholarships to female university students every year. This year, we decided to increase our annual contribution to celebrate our 70th year and will be supporting 70 female students. Furthermore, we support talented young female musicians every year through the Tomorrow's Female Stars project, which we have launched in cooperation with IKSV as part of the Istanbul Music Festival. As of the third year into our project, we are pleased to have contributed to almost 40 female musicians who are having their higher education. At TSKB, we will continue to blaze trails for our young people by expanding our existing financial support to priority development areas through our social responsibility projects.”
We will have more responsibility in the new era
Börü also commented on the COVID-19 pandemic, which affects our country and the world alike. “We have offered case-based solutions to our customers who suffered from falling revenues and cash flow issues due to the pandemic, making sure they are minimally impacted by the market conditions. We will continue to stand by our customers via our sector-specific advisory services as well as our funding opportunities to ensure the new normal is here most effectively. In the new world to arise after the pandemic, sustainability and inclusiveness will particularly assume an increased role on everyone's agenda. At TSKB, we consider it a key responsibility to share our field experience with all actors in economy and production.”
