The US $300 million deal represents the first repo transaction in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa regions (CEEMEA) to include sustainability criteria
Akbank executed a US $300 million ESG-linked repo transaction with Deutsche Bank that includes sustainability criteria. The transaction is the first ESG-KPI linked repo agreement in the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region (CEEMEA).
In addition to financial performance, ethics, environmental, social and economic priorities are also central elements of Akbank’s banking approach. As part of this, Akbank continues to lead many initiatives on sustainability and encourage its stakeholders to take more proactive initiatives in this area.
In line with its strategy to further integrate sustainability across all its business practices Akbank strives to achieve its goals in the fields of sustainable finance, people and community, ecosystem management and climate change. This repo transaction is a reflection of the Bank's sustainability goals in its financing strategy. Akbank will use the financing provided by this successful transaction to finance projects that will support the transition to a low-carbon economy.
This US $300 million transaction with Deutsche Bank, an institution that puts sustainability at the centre of its banking approach, includes ESG criteria. With this feature, the transaction represents ‘a first’ in a wide geography that includes Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The transaction, which links the interest rate to Akbank’s gender balance, electricity sourcing of Akbank from renewable resources, no greenfield coal power plant loan origination, is an indication of Akbank’s determination around its commitments and targets.
In her statement, Sebnem Muratoglu, Executive Vice President for Treasury at Akbank, said: “Akbank has always been at the forefront of ESG initiatives in the sector. We announced our sustainability strategy in January 2021, and recently pledged that we will not be lending to greenfield coal power plant projects, adding them in our exclusion list. We aim to increase the share of sustainable finance-based borrowing transactions in our overall portfolio to 30% by the end of 2021 and this latest transaction with Deutsche Bank further underlines our commitment. The total ESG linked financing we’ve executed with diverse transactions including IFI loans, green bond, our recent ESG linked syndicated loan, sustainable Tier 2, and this ESG-linked repo transaction has exceeded USD 1.7 billion since the beginning of 2020. Our ambitious ESG strategy makes Akbank a benchmark when it comes to ESG not just in banking but the entire Turkish private sector”
Orhan Ozalp, Head of Global Emerging Markets (GEM) for Central and Eastern Europe and CEO of Deutsche Bank AS Turkey stated that they are delighted to sign the first transaction in the region based on sustainability criteria and that with this transaction, the green and sustainable funding provided by Deutsche Bank to Turkey since the beginning of the year has exceeded TL 5 billion. He added that environmental and sustainable investments are Deutsche Bank’s global priorities and in this field, and it plays the role of the leading investment bank in Turkey. Ozalp also noted that they are continuing their efforts to increase these transactions.