Popular with its innovative concepts as the inventor of the "New Generation Banking, Aktif Bank added a new one to its international awards. Aktif Bank received the first prize in the category of "Islamic Finance" in the European Region at the Deals of The Year competition by the Banker Magazine, an event considered as the Oscars of the industry.
As the pioneer in the new generation banking, Aktif Bank received the first prize in Europe in the category of "Islamic Financing Transaction of the Year" with the lease certificates issued as part of the Istanbul Finance Center Project.
The award supported Aktif Bank to position itself as one of the large banks in the world, after financing Istanbul Finance Center by issuing qualified lease certificates. The first Lease Certificate amounting to 200 million liras issued for project financing purposes in Turkey attracted great interest from many international investors as part of Istanbul Finance Center.
In the "Deals of The Year" competition by The Banker Magazine, considered one of the most important publications in the banking sector, Aktif Bank competed against world's leading finance organizations including Crédit Agricole, HSBC, Citi, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, ING, Raiffeisen Bank International, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sberbank, Société Générale, UniCredit, and Goldman Sachs.
Dr. Önder Halisdemir, Aktif Bank's General Manager and Board Member, emphasized the active role of Aktif Bank in the deepening of the Turkish finance markets. He stated that they are very glad to see their services, offered in line with an innovative perspective from the very start are not only delivered with great results but also recognized with the prestigious awards in the international arena. "As the largest investment bank in the country, Aktif Bank introduced many innovations including bank bonds, asset-backed securities, and participation certificates. We developed tailored investment instruments for the development of Istanbul Finance Center project, a very important initiative for Turkey. Our commitment is to offer a wide range of new generation products that are worthy of their name for the investment to Istanbul Finance Center. The Mudaraba Sukuk issuance for project financing is our first step as part of these activities. We delivered a first with our project partner, Ağaoğlu Group and made our mark. Thus, each international award received and each investor engaged demonstrate once again how good we are at doing our business. As those who are familiar with our organization know, we, in principle, do not participate in local competitions recognizing the best in Turkey. We join the competitions recognizing the best in the world and in Europe. Here, we were granted the first prize, surpassing the most significant and largest organizations in the world. We have won 59 awards, major part of which is composed of first prizes, in various categories at the international competitions over the last 3 years. As a domestic organization, we are very excited to promote our country and recieve the first prizes at international platforms. We showed that it is possible to be a model in Islamic financing through the quality, distinctiveness and result of the work, even without being a participation bank."
About Aktif Bank
Aktif Bank is the largest privately owned investment bank in Turkey. The bank operates in the fields of retail banking, investment banking and regional banking. The innovative and entrepreneurial business manner of the bank has been proven with great results and 56 international awards received over the last three years. It was selected as the most innovative bank in the world in distribution channels. In investment banking, Aktif Bank has pioneered innovations including the first bank bond, the first asset-backed securities, and the first project financing sukuk in Turkey. The bank names its unique business model as "New Generation Banking". Aktif Bank was assessed in the highly investable category by JCR-Eurasia Rating with Long Term National Credit Rating, increasing two grades from A+ (Trk)"to "AA (Trk).
