Milestones

For the purposes of supplying tradesmen and artisans on favorable terms in order to promote economic development, Halkbank was founded under Statute 2284 in 1933 as a credit union by small cooperatives and the bank became operational in 1938.

Between the years 1938–1950 Halkbank provided its loans through public funds named as “People’s Fund”. Halkbank was authorized to directly open branches and grant loans to customers in 1950

In 1964, Halkbank embarked upon an ambitious program in which its capital was increased and the bank became a more active player by establishing a nationwide network of branches. The result was a strong rise in the bank's deposit and lending volumes.

Throughout 1990s, Halkbank’s assets grew rapidly through the absorption of certain failed smaller sized state banks. In 1992, Acquisition of Töbank has taken place

Sümerbank’s assets and liabilities transferred to Halkbank

Etibank’s assets and liabilities transferred to Halkbank

96 branches of Emlakbank, another state bank which was then in the process of liquidation, were transferred to Halkbank.

One of the major turning points for Halkbank is the acquisition of Pamukbank in 2004. After the Pamukbank merger, Halkbank underwent a serious restructuring process which was initiated by the Statute 4603 relating to public banks with the aim of preparing them for privatization.

Although initially the Bank had been planned to be sold through a block sale under the resolution of the Privatization High Council in 2006, the government surprisingly cancelled the initial plan and decided to privatize 25% of the shares through an IPO in early 2007. As of 10 May 2007, 24.98% of the shares of the Bank have been sold through a very successful public offering and the shares have been listed in Istanbul Stock

A secondary offering of 23.92%(inc. Greenshoe option)on Nov 16,2012 by the Privatization Administration increased the listed portion of Halkbank shares from 24.98% to 48.90%.