Published: September 9, 2021
Turkey’s Akbank has signed a $100m sustainability-linked facility from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), becoming the Turkish first deposit bank to secure funds from the multilateral lender as sustainable finance takes deep root in the country.
Akbank’s loan from AIIB has a seven year maturity. It will be used to on lend to small and medium sized enterprises in Turkey that have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The deal was signed on August 17.
“Significant progress has been made in the fight against the pandemic in the world and in our country,” said Levent Çelebioğlu, executive vice president for corporate and investment banking at Akbank. “However, alongside the health impact of the epidemic, the economic impact has also not yet been fully restored.”
China headquartered AIIB focuses on sustainable economic development. As such, Akbank plans to use the funding received from the multilateral bank for sustainanbility-linked funding purposes.