Akbank issued the first Green Bond in the Turkish banking sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, which amounts to USD 50 million with a 4 year 110 days maturity
Hakan Binbaşgil, CEO, emphasized that the transaction is the first Green Bond issuance of Turkish banking sector during the pandemic and commented:
“The developments regarding the pandemic underlined, once again, the importance of sustainability. At this point, if we would like to leave a more habitable, equal and prosperous world to the future, as all stakeholders, we have to take joint action immediately. At Akbank, we are aware that our responsibilities towards our society and the humanity transcend the financing resources we provide and our financials. Therefore, for many years, we have been carrying out leading projects on sustainability in our sector. We carry our sustainability efforts forward with both the practices we implement at our bank and by encouraging our stakeholders to take more effective initiatives. Our Green Bond issuance which amounts to USD 50 million with a 4 year 110 days maturity, represents another milestone in our sustainability efforts. The financing we provide with our International Capital Market Association’s (ICMA) Green Bond principles compliant issuance will be used to support renewable energy projects; one of the most important components of combating climate change. This financing will also support our country’s transition to a low carbon economy. We are proud to invest in our country’s future ”
Underlining that providing longer-term and sustainable resources at favorable terms to Turkish economy constitutes one of Akbank’s priorities in foreign borrowing transactions, Binbaşgil continued, “With our Green Bond issuance, we have added a new product to our foreign borrowing instruments. This transaction has allowed us to further expand our investor base and our borrowing product portfolio. Sustainable finance represents an international market with a cumulative size of about USD 1.2 trillion. Green Bonds constitute about USD 900 billion of this market. Since 2018, the annual issuance of sustainable borrowing instruments have surpassed USD 200 billion. We will continue to prioritize sustainable finance borrowing transactions”