MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Akbank Selling $300m in Bonds to DFC, AIIB, IFC – Half to Support Women-owned Businesses in Turkiye

Turkiye’s Akbank recently raised USD 300 million through the issuance of subordinated bonds to three development finance institutions. Half of the fresh cash is from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) for on-lending for business and consumer purposes to women in “underdeveloped cities” in the country. The remainder is

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Loaning $5m to ING Finansal Kiralama for Leasing for Energy Efficiency, Renewables in Turkiye

The multilateral European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently agreed to provide an unsecured loan approximately equivalent to USD 5.5 million to the Türkiye-based Internationale Nederlanden Groep (ING) Finansal Kiralama, which is controlled by the Netherlands-based ING Group. Also known as ING Leasing, the company plans to use the proceeds to finance

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: EBRD Launches GEFF Turkey With $56m Loan to TSKB for On-lending to Reduce, Adjust to Climate Impacts

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral development finance institution, is “supporting Turkey’s transition to an environmentally sustainable, low-carbon and climate-resilient economy” through the Green Economy Financial Facility (GEFF) Turkey. The loan package comprises funds from EBRD’s own resources as well as concessional financing from the Clean Technology Fund,

MICROFINANCE EVENT: 24th MFC Annual Conference: Microfinance Investing Through Uncertainty; June 29-30, 2022; Istanbul, Turkey

The conference is slated to cover investment opportunities and other strategies for addressing “gender, green finance and technological challenges” related to inclusive finance in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event features seminars with titles such as

MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Gendered Social Norms in Financial Inclusion: A Diagnostic Study from Southeastern Turkey,” by Adriano Scarampi et al, published by CGAP

Through this qualitative study on how social norms impact women’s “access to and use of financial services,” the authors explored potential interventions for promoting women’s financial inclusion. They interviewed 93 members of southeastern Turkey’s Arab population. This community was selected because Turkey’s financial-inclusion gender gap closely resembles that of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region as a whole, and the country holds other geographical and cultural similarities to the Arab world, therefore increasing

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: J.P. Morgan, EBRD Deliver Advisory, Training Services to MSMEs Led by Women in Turkey

US-based financial services firm J.P. Morgan recently agreed to co-fund the Turkish operations of the Women in Business Programme of the UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD). Women in Business, which expanded to Turkey in 2014, supports micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) operated by women in 18 countries. In Turkey, the support from J.P. Morgan will fund:

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe Loans $23m to Burgan Bank of Turkey for Rural MSMEs

The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based investor in the development of local financial sectors in Southeast Europe and parts of Central Asia, recently informed MicroCapital that it has loaned EUR 20 million (USD 23 million) to Burgan Bank Turkey, a retail bank that is part of Kuwait’s Burgan Bank Group. The funds are to be on-lent on a “long-term” basis to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas of the country.