COVID-19
Despite the global difficulties, Halkbank never gave up on its principle of “We are the People first, then a Bank” and continued to create value through the comprehensive products and services offered to its customers from all sections of the society with a responsible banking approach. Halkbank quickly integrated digital payment and collection systems to meet its changing customer demands and expectations due to the COVID-19 pandemic that impact our country along with the whole world particularly after 2020 Q2. By continuously increasing its support to SMEs and tradesmen to sustain all the sectors negatively affected from the pandemic and to mitigate its effects, Halkbank grew not only on paper but also in the hearts. Furthermore, it was entitled to receive the “COVID-19 Secure Service Certificate” for its Head Office Service Buildings for the measures it took in reference to the directives of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization in order to minimize the risk of infection from the COVID-19 virus. The Bank minimized the adverse conditions during the pandemic and continued to provide uninterrupted service through its practices in the focus points.
VALUE-CREATION FOR THE LOCAL ECONOMY
Halkbank continued to work hard during the epidemic period that affected the whole world, adapting rapidly to changing working conditions without any interruptions from both offices and houses. In this context, more than 100 thousand loan payments were made through digital channels. Various export loan supports were also provided to exporting SMEs and companies and communication was continued with international correspondent banks to ensure that the needed funds were provided in the fastest and most suitable manner with a vast network of international correspondent banks.
- TRY 140 billion support to a total of 3.1 million customers
- TRY 680 Billion Total Assets – Third bank in asset size in Turkey
- The loan repayments of 850 thousand customers worth TRY 40.1 billion Turkish liras were postponed or restructured.
A record market share of 21.6% in SME Banking
CLIMATE CHANGE
Aware of the destructive effects of climate change, Halkbank commenced its efforts in this area by realizing improvement projects in its own operations. Its saving efforts prevented 475,964 tons CO2eof emission. In this context, as a first in Turkey, calculations were made about the emissions caused by working from home, based on equipment usage, gas consumption for heating and electricity consumption of air-conditioners. Halkbank aims to reduce Turkey’s dependence on energy and minimize emissions from its operations with financing support for renewable energy projects. The Bank supported the generation of 780,270,384 kWh of electrical energy using renewable resources in 2020. The Bank examines 10 million or higher investment requests based on its sustainability criteria. In this context, TRY 332.9 million renewable energy and energy efficiency loans were provided by the end of 2020.
DIGITALIZATION
Technological advances that gained pace in the 21st century accelerated even further with the COVID-19 pandemic and resulted in major changes in daily lives and business flows. The Bank kept up with this process of change and made many innovations in its products and services and strengthened its digital banking transaction capacity as a strategic focus. Providing service to customers without having to visit a branch, Halkbank had 3.8 million digital banking customers by 2020 and continued to provide value to its stakeholders with loans worth 2 million TL through these channels. The Bank also contributes with its efforts to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations for 2030. The Bank saved paper and supported the struggle against deforestation by transferring its contracts and forms to digital environment with the Digital Transformation journey it set off.
CYBERSECURITY
Aware of the sensitivity regarding “Trust”, the key element of the banking sector, Halkbank prioritizes data security in all its digital activities. The Bank’s high sensitivity towards customer data confidentiality was proven with the ISO 20000 Information Technologies Service Management System certificate. High resources are being allocated to improve and strengthen the security infrastructure of the mobile banking and internet banking platforms to ensure the continuation of this sensitivity. Achieving growth with the trust of its customers, the Bank continues to provide uninterrupted service to 3.8 million digital banking customers. Every digital transaction is protected with cybersecurity policies and continuously audited to ensure uninterrupted secure service.
