VKF_FRAE_2018_uyg11

26 Section I: Introduction launched our term deposit product – the “Bee Account” – for the Bank’s customers. Since its introduction, the Bee Account product has boosted new customer acquisitions and time deposits. Furthermore, we diversified our product sets in digital channels by adapting to the latest technologies. Deposits remained the main funding source of the Bank in 2018. We increased our total deposits by 15.54% to TL 179.408 million. In line with our strategy of expanding across a wider base, we boosted our savings deposits by 34.44% to TL 87,822 million. While growing our deposits, we also continued to obtain foreign funds to extend the maturity term of our funds and diversify our funding sources. In January 2018, we completed our biggest Eurobond issue ever: USD 650 million. In April, we signed the largest syndicated loan agreement in the Bank’s history. With the renewal of the syndicated loan in November, we raised our total syndicated loan balance to USD 2.1 billion. In 2018, our total syndicated loan renewal rate was 110%, reflecting the high level of confidence in our country and the Bank. Furthermore, we successfully hosted the EMTA FORUM, organized by the Emerging Markets Traders Association, which counts 175 investment firms worldwide among its members. This major event also made a positive change in the perception of Turkey in international markets. In May 2018, we executed a securitization transaction worth USD 380 million, which was given a rating of BBB+ – two notches above investment grade – by Fitch Ratings. This was followed by another securitization transaction worth USD 300 million in October. In a year when concerns about emerging markets intensified, VakıfBank obtained foreign funds totaling USD 5.8 billion despite such challenging market conditions. In sum, we boosted loans that were obtained by 46.07% to TL 41,350 million in 2018. VakıfBank also continued to support the national economy with its robust and liquid balance sheet. The Bank extended the average maturity of its TL financing sources via non-deposit products. As part of its Covered Bond Programme, the Bank issued two covered bonds worth of TL 2 billion in total in two separate transactions in February and December 2018. In September, we materialized Turkey’s first Additional Tier 1 bond issuance, except for participation banks, worth TL 4.99 billion. Having issued bonds totaling TL 15.3 billion in the domestic market, the Bank’s total securities issued rose 14.69% to TL 22,347 million. MESSAGE FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER Financial performance enhanced with successful deals... We increased our savings deposits by 34.44% to TL 87,822 million.