Company Profile
Sekerbank T.A.S. was founded in 1953 in Anatolia as a cooperative bank with the small savings of thousands of sugar beet cooperative member farmers in order to finance agriculture, rural development and local production. Today as a nationwide commercial bank, Sekerbank T.A.S.is honored to have preserved and carried out its founding mission of financing sustainable development for over the past 62 years.

Sekerbank T.A.S. stands out in its know-how of local community banking knowledge thanks to its branch network, across 71 cities and almost 100 off-center districts in Turkey, 66% of which are located in the Anatolia region, outside of the country’s three largest cities.

Sekerbank has developed a broad-based customer profile and is regarded as a “key bank of Turkey” by international financial institutions. Sekerbank assigns a significant part of its total loan portfolio to farmers, craftsmen, enterprises and corporate firms, and builds social platforms that include the real sector, public, and NGOs in order to create value ‘beyond the loan’ for its customers.

Sekerbank T.A.S. and Sustainability
Sekerbank’s sustainable development strategy is rooted in the bank’s history and foundation. Throughout its 62 year journey, Sekerbank has carried out its activities under the framework of sustainable development, and has been committed to creating economic, social, and environmental value and improving local and rural development in Turkey’s Anatolia region.

Through its support of energy efficiency investments, Sekerbank has introduced energy savings to almost 75,000 people and businesses through EKOloan since 2009. Additionally, Sekerbank has started the “Family Farming Banking” Project, a pioneering program to support farmers and sustainable production.

Having defined its mission as ‘Community Banking,’ Sekerbank pioneered Turkey’s first microfinance lending model, and has applied it to reach out to segments that have never been introduced to banking services before.

The activities carried out and the basic commitments within the scope of Sekerbank’s understanding of “sustainable development” can be summarized as follows:

• To ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by financing investments in this field with favorable conditions and creating widespread awareness in the field of energy efficiency,
• To support local agricultural production,
• To support more farmers, craftsmen and enterprises through local banking competency,
• To enhance financial inclusion by reaching out to segments that have limited access to financial resources,
• To create platforms through collaborating with the private sector, public and non-governmental organizations,
• To form a sustainable financing bridge between international financial institutions and Anatolian SMEs,
• To participate in platforms formed for fighting climate change,
• To consider environmental and social impacts of loans,
• To take a leading role in corporate governance processes,
• To support culture & art projects which allows society access to contemporary art.

Sekerbank also participates in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), CDP Water, and is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact (Global Principles Convention).

Sekerbank T.A.S. and Sustainability on the web
http://sekerbank.com.tr/en/aboutsekerbank/sustainability
http://www.sekerbank.com.tr/en/aboutsekerbank/sustainability/sustainabilityreport