VakıfBank

1950s to 1980s

In 1956, after conducting extensive studies and surveys in the major economic centers across Turkey, VakıfBank continued its growth by opening an additional 10 branches. In 1957, VakıfBank made its first venture towards broadening its services with the establishment of Güneş Insurance. Over the next 20 years, VakıfBank continued to expand and widen its geographic presence in Turkey by opening new branches throughout Turkey, including in other important commercial and industrial regions. By 1977, VakıfBank had 206 branch offices.

1980s

During the 1980s, VakıfBank sought to keep pace with technological advances and placed special emphasis on improving its operations through investment in technology. VakıfBank improved automation and became fully integrated through a centralized mainframe computer system. In 1982, in an effort to conduct banking operations in a more dynamic manner and serve the particular needs of various regions, VakıfBank established regional directorates in Istanbul, the Aegean and the Çukurova regions.

1990s

In the early 1990s, VakıfBank increased the scope of its consumer lending and diversified its loan portfolio by broadening its lending practices to include equipment financing, enterprise loans, auto loans, housing loans as well as loans for marriage, vacation and education. It began to expand its credit card business by adopting principles of reputation credit and increasing its base of merchant customers, students and working class employees as well as by automating and centralizing its point of sale authorization system. VakıfBank also laid the groundwork to become a leader in alternative distribution channels by introducing self-service banking, telephone banking, and a mobile bank branch office – a full-service branch office on wheels Autobank. VakıfBank was the first in Turkey to offer payment services by credit card over the telephone. In 1993, VakıfBank obtained its first syndicated loan in an amount of US$ 38.5 million and established Vakıf Offshore in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

In 1995, VakıfBank overhauled its management structure in order to modernize and conform with contemporary bank management practices. VakıfBank also established its New York branch in order to increase its exposure to international markets. The New York branch conducts international operations, including trade finance and corporate banking. In 1996, VakıfBank established Vakıf Gayrimenkul, a real estate investment trust, and Vakıf Risk Sermayesi Yatirim Ortakligi A.Ş., the first venture capital company in Turkey. In 1997, VakıfBank conducted its first securitization for US$ 130 million in relation to credit and debit card receivables.

In 1998, VakıfBank established its first home banking platform for customers with substantial business volume. VakıfBank also installed new computer systems to automate import and export transactions within the branch network for those branches conducting trade finance activities. VakıfBank became the first in Turkey to offer long-term home loans with maturities of up to 20 years. VakıfBank also introduced the VakifBank Primary Schools program, a scheme designed to turn former branch offices into schools for homeless children.

2000s

In 2000, VakıfBank completed its first Eurobond issue for €200 million with a term of three years. In addition, VakıfBank’s subsidiaries, Güneş Insurance, Vakıf Financial Leasing, Vakıf Investment Trust Company, Vakıf Real Estate Investment Trust Company and Vakıf Venture Capital Company all offered their shares to the public and listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.

In 2001, VakıfBank also introduced internet banking with the launch of its internet site. VakıfBank currently has over 751,869 internet banking customers, an increase of almost 50% since 2003. In 2001, VakıfBank completed the first long-term borrowing following the Turkish economic crisis through the securitization of diversified payment rights for an amount of US$ 200 million and a term of five years. VakıfBank also became the first Turkish commercial bank to launch a syndicated loan facility following the economic crisis for an amount of US$ 110 million. Also in 2001, VakıfBank established a senior risk committee as well as a bank-wide risk committee, an internal control department and a new data processing center.

In 2002, VakıfBank had the largest number of credit cards issued in Turkey and ranked first in Europe in terms of the number of Maestro cards issued by a banking institution, according to MasterCard.

In 2003, VakıfBank continued its strategy to expand its customer base by effectively promoting both existing and new services to a larger segment of the population, including the upper middle class, middle-aged individuals with a steady source of income. VakıfBank borrowed US$ 200 million in a syndicated deal in which 36 banks participated, including 14 arrangers. In July 2005, VakıfBank increased this syndicated loan to US$ 750 million with 62 banks, including 34 arrangers. In September 2005, VakıfBank closed the 2005‑A Tranche of its new diversified payment rights securitization program which amounted to US$ 750 million. The securitization resulted in the sale of the diversified payment rights to the SPC. Also in 2005, VakıfBank and VakıfBank Pension Fund sold, respectively, 27,900 million and 4,300 million Class D common shares of VakıfBank in the IPO, representing 21.8% and 3.37%, respectively, of VakıfBank’s total shares.

Since 2003, VakıfBank has initiated the following projects: a marketing and sales oriented new branch organization to promote customer satisfaction; the Remote Access (EXAPI System) enabling VakıfBank’s customers to trade directly on the Istanbul Stock Exchange; the First Step Mutual Fund for parents wanting to invest for their children; and a branded credit card program for groups such as students, teachers and soldiers as well as the Supporter Credit Card for the fans of the three most popular football clubs in Turkey Super League.

Present

In September 2004, VakıfBank mandated an international consultancy firm to review the financial and operational performance of VakıfBank. VakıfBank continues to improve operating efficiencies and overall performance through a number of initiatives including: organizational restructuring, including the reorganization of VakıfBank’s head office and the consolidation of certain business units to create increased operating efficiencies; increasing its focus on customers, including expanding its customer base, cross-selling to existing customers and improving customer service by utilizing both its extensive branch network as well as its continually expanding range of alternative distribution channels; remodeling nearly all of its existing branches and exploring opportunities for new branch openings, particularly in the Marmara region; focusing on sales at the branch level by shifting staff to sales functions; increasing its investment in human resources and optimizing personnel utilization; upgrading and overhauling the capacity and quality of its information technology systems, hardware and applications throughout both VakıfBank’s headquarters and its branch network; and developing its internal control functions, including the implementation of regional portfolio managers in its commercial banking operations and increasing responsibility at the branch level. VakıfBank intends to complete implementation of a majority of these initiatives during 2007.