At over 84 million people the population of Turkey is large, with its biggest city Istanbul home to over 15 million people. The uniqueness of Turkey is that it is located not only in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region but also in Europe and Asia.
The FinTech Times has compiled a list of the top ten largest banks in Turkey and ranked them (based on asset). If combined, those included on this list would be valued at over $500 billion. This is impressive when considering that the Top Ten Banks in the whole of the African continent have a combined net worth of $600 billion.
#10 – Turk Ekonomi Bankasi – Turk Ekonomi Bankasi, also known as TEB, was founded in 1927 by private investors. Since then, the ban has expanded its branch network and service diversity, and today offers investment banking, insurance, leasing and portfolio management amongst others.
#9 – QNB Finansbank – Founded in 1987 by billionaire Hüsnü Özyeğin, Finansbank was unique in its philosophy and view of banking and is the first private bank to go public. With its headquarters in Istanbul, it has a total of 518 branches with nearly 12,000 workers.
#8 – DenizBank – DenizBank is a large private banking firm that was acquired by the Russian Sberbank. Originally founded in 1938, the bank was to help fund the development of the Turkish maritime sector.
#7 – AKBANK – AKBANK concerns itself mainly with corporate and investment, commercial, SME, consumer, payment systems and private banking. With over 12 thousand employees and 770 branches, AKBANK operates its headquarters in Istanbul.
#6 – Vakifbank – VakifBank was established in 1954 with the purpose of best utilising the foundations monies and aiming to contribute to the savings of the country. The bank takes a leading role in the financing of domestic and foreign trade with its 937 branches, with international operations.
#5 – Garanti BBVA – Established in 1947, Garanti BBVA is an integrated financial services group operating in all aspects of the banking sector nationally as well as in the Netherlands and Romania. It offers a wide range of financial services to its 15.8 million customers with an award winning Customer Communication Centre.
#4 – Yapi Kredi – Yapi Kredi has 845 branches with over 16.5k employees. They are a customer centric commercial bank established in 1944 and was one of the first nationwide commercial banks in Turkey.
#3 – Halkbank – Incorporated in 1933, Halkbank is a state-owned bank that began offering services in 1938. They support tradesman, SMEs, and artisans with a modern banking approach.
#2 – Isbank – Isbank was the first public bank established by the Turkish Republic, founded in 1924. With over 1354 branches domestically, as well as an international network, the bank offers corporate and commercial banking services as well as retail and mobile banking.
#1 – Ziraat Bank – Ziraat bank is the largest Turkish bank in terms of assets. Based in Ankara and officially established in 1888 as a modern financial institution, primarily to aid in organised agricultural loans. Wrapped up in the history of the Turkish Banking Sector, Ziraat Bank provides a variety of services to business of any size, corporate and retail customers.
This article was created by the editorial team at The FinTech Times, consisting of Richie Santosdiaz, Polly Jean Harrison and Mark Walker. The information within and graphic can be reproduced with full credit to The Fintech Times.
