Akbank Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Financing Project (ADB-59236-001)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Turkiye
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
C
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Nov 11, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Akbank T.A.S.
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 100.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 100.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ ADB website

Updated in EWS Apr 6, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Nov 11, 2025

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, ADB-funded transaction of a loan of $100 million supports longer-term small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing through Akbank T.A. (Akbank), a domestically systemically important bank in Turkiye, by further strengthen its SME lending capacity, especially for women-owned SMEs and SMEs operating in less economically developed and earthquake-affected regions. ADB's financing will provide long-term, affordable capital-enabling Akbank to extend financing to SMEs that are often excluded from traditional banking channels. The SME financing project will also enhance Akbank's financial resilience and long-term sustainability by providing capacity building to the Akbank Transformation Academy.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

Environmental Aspects: AkBank has relevant environmental policies in place, supported by a robust environmental and social management system (ESMS) that includes screening, categorization, and review processes, as applicable. For this financing, the use of proceeds shall be limited to sub-loans for activities that would fall under Category C for Environment as per ADB's Safeguard Policy Statement (SPS).

Involuntary Resettlement: Akbank's existing SME lending operations are unlikely to entail impacts on involuntary resettlement. Akbank will screen out any activity classified as Category A or B for involuntary resettlement under the SPS. For this financing, ADB's use of proceeds will be limited to sub-loans classified as Category C for Involuntary Resettlement as per ADB's SPS.

Indigenous Peoples: Akbank's current lending operations are unlikely to have an impact on Indigenous peoples. For this ADB financing, Akbank will only include lending to projects categorized as C for Indigenous Peoples as per ADB's SPS.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

A loan of up to $100,000,000 from ADB’s ordinary capital resources.

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Akbank is the 6th largest bank in Turkiye by asset size (3th largest amongst private banks), with total consolidated assets of EUR 72.4 billion and 8.1% market share at YE24. Akbank is rated B1 (Positive) by Moody's and BB- (Stable) by Fitch. Sabanci Holding and affiliated institutions and individuals own 49% of Akbank and the remaining shares (51%) are listed on Borsa Istanbul.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No contacts available at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.adb.org/forms/request-information-form

ADB has a two-stage appeals process for requesters who believe that ADB has denied their request for information in violation of its Access to Information Policy. You can learn more about filing an appeal at: https://www.adb.org/site/disclosure/appeals

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF ADB

The Accountability Mechanism is an independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an Asian Development Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Accountability Mechanism, they may investigate to assess whether the Asian Development Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can learn more about the Accountability Mechanism and how to file a complaint at: http://www.adb.org/site/accountability-mechanism/main.

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How it works