Ziraat Bank continued to support the real sector in 2019 by acting with a sense of responsibility, and continued to shape Turkey’s banking sector, as it has in the past. Always considering the sustainability of growth and efficiency, the Bank has designed and implemented its strategy and business plans in line with a management approach based on efficiency. In this way, it continued to mediate in the effective distribution of scarce fund resources.

As our country’s largest financial institution, Ziraat Bank continues to provide long-term contributions both to its customers and the national economy with its activities focused on effectiveness and efficiency, with its balance sheet expanding by 21% YoY to reach a size of TL 650 billion.

Acting on the principle of sustainable growth, Ziraat Bank expanded its cash loan volume by 18% YoY to TL 448 billion. In addition, as it continued to strengthen its shareholders’ equity, the bank’s shareholders’ equity exceeded TL 70 billion by the end of 2019.

In line with the efforts to expand the opportunities provided by the banking sector to the real sector, from the point of providing a healthy and sustainable contribution to the existing employment and labor force to promote the steady growth and development of our economy, four new products were introduced by Ziraat Bank, Halkbank and Vakıfbank to companies offering the potential to provide additional employment. The products were long-term business loans with a principal grace period of up to 2 years and a maturity of up to 5 years, suitable conditions, and low cost which are; “Employment Focused Business Loan-Manufacturing Industry Sector”, “Employment Focused Business Loan-Service Sector”, “Ongoing Housing Construction Projects Employment Focused Business Loan” and “Foreign Contracting Sector Employment Focused Business Loan”.

In the first quarter of 2019, Ziraat Bank launched its greenhouse loan package, with the aim of helping farmers increase agricultural production in greenhouses, establish new greenhouses, bring idle greenhouses into the economy and modernize existing greenhouses.

The Greenhouse Loan Package is aimed at increasing greenhouse activities, and also expanding the use of greenhouses, currently concentrated in certain regions of the country, to other suitable regions, especially in areas with geothermal water resources, while increasing capacity utilization, agricultural production and productivity in greenhouse agriculture, and thus, reducing the negative effects of seasonal changes on the amount of production, costs and prices.

In addition, the Bank offers the “Loan Package for Livestock Enterprises which Cultivate Their Own Feed” in order to meet livestock enterprises’ requirement for feed, partially or completely, to encourage the cultivation of foraging crops and to meet such needs through the use of pasture, and the “Soybean, Corn and Sunflower Credit Package”, which is aimed at encouraging the production of strategic herbal products which are currently largely imported.

In order to increase interest in agriculture among our country’s young people, to teach agricultural production and investment, to train educated and conscious young farmers and to give young people an entrepreneurial awareness in the field of agriculture, the Ziraat Bank Young Farmers Academy, which was launched in 2018 by Ziraat Bank, started to offer greenhouse farming and sheep farming training in 2019 after having already started training in dairy cattle breeding.

Ziraat Bank continued to provide funds obtained from leading international financial institutions through bilateral agreements with the objective of diversification of funding sources and deepening of existing sources. The Bank renewed its syndication loan of USD 422 million and EUR 798 million which were due in April, increasing the contribution to a total of USD 1.425 billion. The syndication loan, which started with an amount of USD 700 million in 2013 with the objective of diversification of non-deposit sources and increasing the market share of foreign trade financing, has continued to be rolled over and has grown every year. With this loan, 40 banks from 22 countries in different regions from Asia to South America reaffirmed their confidence and belief in the Turkish economy and Ziraat Bank’s business model.

Ziraat Bank unwaveringly pressed ahead with its process improvement and transformation work in 2019, and its projects in this field have gained recognition with international awards. The first of these awards was the Financial Innovation Awards 2019 - the business life transformation/employee interaction initiative, organized by the “London Institute of Banking and Finance”, which was given in recognition of the Bank’s efforts to take customer/employee complaints and suggestions into account in process improvement work.

In the competition, which rewards innovations and progressive and inspiring changes in the financial sector organized by the “Global Banking and Finance Review”, the Corporate Architecture system established by our Bank was found worthy of the “best converting workplace and employee initiative” award.

Ziraat Bank was ranked first in the “Best International Project” category at the “Financial Services Forum Product & Service Innovation 2019” award ceremony, organized by the Financial Services Forum platform with CEOs from financial authorities, senior executives of large companies and individuals with academic knowledge and experience in the field of banking.

Ziraat Bank was named the “Turkey’s most loved bank” in 2016, 2017 and 2018 as well as in 2019 in the ”Turkey’s Lovemarks” survey.

Ziraat Bank continued to offer safe and fast banking products and digital service channels which bring ease to the lives of customers in a rapidly digitalizing world, and has managed to reach millions in a very short space of time with the Bankkart brand, which combines credit card and debit card features on one card. Bankkart won the “Most Reputable brand of the Year” award in the credit cards category based on the results of the “Brand Value and Perception Survey 2019”, which determined the “Reputation of the Year” conducted by Marketing Turkey and the Akademetre Research & Strategic Company.

Ziraat Bank has been bringing permanent art venues to art lovers, as well staging temporary exhibitions, by integrating the support it has given to art and artists since 1926 with the motto “In Art, for Art” to share the values of art with the society by moving them out of the institution and to make art livable. In another example of its commitment to art and artists, the Bank opened the Çukurambar Art Gallery in the Next Level Shopping Center in Ankara, the Tunnel Art Gallery in Istanbul and the Kuğulu Art Gallery in Ankara for the art lovers.

As our country’s largest financial institution with an asset volume exceeding half a trillion Lira, Ziraat Bank will continue to provide long-term contributions to its customers and to our country’s economy with its activities focused on effectiveness and efficiency.