Banking

Financial and Operational KPIs

Sabancı Group’s banking institution, Akbank, achieved superior results in 2022 and even exceeded its mid-year upward revised guidance. Some highlights of the year include:

• Reached an outstanding 6.2% RoA and 54.7% RoE with 7.5x leverage
• Reported robust revenue generation driven by increased customer business and diversified product offerings
• Gained momentum in customer acquisition with a net active customer increase of 2.3 million year-on-year
• Acquired about 40% of new to bank customers via digital onboarding (DoB)
• Further strengthened solid capital ratios, creating significant competitive advantage for sustainable profitability: 20.8% CAR ⁽¹⁾ and 17.7% Tier 1 ⁽¹⁾
• Recorded TL 757 billion in lending to Türkiye’s economy
• Conducted prudent ALM with a focus on maturity mismatch
• Ended the year with remarkably low 19.0% CIR ⁽²⁾ thanks to strong revenue growth

(1) Without forbearances: Fixing month-to-month losses of securities and FX rate for RWA calculation to year-end 2021 FX rate

(2) CIR calculation excludes FX gain from hedge position related to stage 1 and 2 provisions

Protect and Grow the Core

The Group’s banking institution, Akbank, executes a bifocal strategy of “Run the Bank” and “Crafting the Future” to identify key priorities. Growing and protecting the core business is aligned with “Run the Bank” activities.

Akbank focuses on conducting superior customer acquisition, deepening customer relations as well as bolstering customer retention efforts. Further enhancing these capabilities are central to running and growing Akbank’s core business.

Effective risk management is a critical component of growing and protecting the bank’s core operations. With a strong focus on risk management across all its business areas, Sabancı Group’s banking institution continuously improves its risk management capabilities with digital and artificial-intelligence (AI) based solutions.

Another key component of growing the core is continuously developing the bank’s digital infrastructure and improving operational efficiency. In 2022, Akbank recorded about 9 million active digital customers. Digital customer penetration reached all-time high in fourth quarter. Mobile customers conducting financial transactions have increased by 14 percentage points since year-end 2020.

Sabancı Group’s banking institution operates a robust digital infrastructure supported by future of work capabilities. The digital realm is where Akbank prepares its path for the future.

Sales and service model design is another key driver in growing the core business at the Group’s banking institution. Akbank’s efforts in this area aim to further improve customer touchpoints along different customer journeys covering both the SME & Consumer business lines. By using sales and service design strategically, Akbank delivers a strong omnichannel customer experience combining web/mobile channels, a re-designed branch layout, and the call center. The objective is to provide banking services to customers whenever and wherever they need with a laser-focused attention to quality and efficiency.

Invest in New Growth Platforms

To achieve its objectives in “Crafting the Future,” Sabancı Group’s banking institution has identified the following strategic priority areas.

Engaging in Open Banking

Fundamental shifts in business, technology and the regulatory landscape will enable open banking to become mainstream in the near future. As one of the first banks to establish an organizational structure to focus on this burgeoning area, Akbank plans to further invest in its people, processes and technology to continuously strengthen its open banking capabilities.

Developing and Participating in Ecosystems

In crafting its future, Sabancı Group’s banking institution also aims to focus on developing and participating in ecosystems. As ecosystem structures grow and evolve, providing customers with holistic solutions in key areas such as mobility, healthcare, financial health, supply chain and internet-of-things (IoT) ecosystems will be critical in responding to ever-changing customer needs. These new structures will also enable the bank to tap into the unbanked and underbanked population, supporting financial inclusion, which is a priority for the bank’s sustainability objectives.

Actively Participating in the Startup Ecosystem

Becoming a pivotal player in the startup ecosystem is another key area of Akbank’s “Crafting the Future” strategy. This approach will enable the Group’s banking institution, to further develop its digital and analytics capabilities while also paving the way for new business models in the banking-as-a-platform space. To consolidate its footprint in the startup ecosystem, Akbank aims to develop new product ideas, identify and develop new investment models, and improve its talent base. In 2022, “Akbank+” was launched as a major initiative to achieve these objectives. “Akbank+” is designed to establish a corporate entrepreneurship culture at the bank and support employees in building startups with their innovative ideas.

The Way Forward

Digital and Advanced Analytics

Looking ahead, Sabancı Group’s banking institution aims to achieve excellence in digital and advanced analytics, the backbone of many other capabilities and business initiatives. The bank plans to focus its investments on artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications in financial services, as these technologies become more commercialized in terms of their application.

Future of Work

Another important tenet of executing the Crafting the Future strategy is investing in the future of work. As the banking industry changes, talent requirements and the work format of the industry is also changing. To keep pace with these immense undercurrents, Akbank aims to focus on defining the future workforce and talent requirements and re-calibrating its workforce and work-method structures accordingly. Human capital is an indispensable part of the banking business. As a result, identifying and developing the right skillsets is vital to ensuring a sustainable competitive advantage.

Sustainability

Sabancı Group’s banking institution invests in the future with the mindset of reducing its environmental footprint while increasing its positive impact. The bank’s sustainability targets include extending TL 200 billion in sustainable loans by 2030, raising sustainable investment funds to TL 15 billion by 2030, and becoming a net-zero bank by eliminating operational and financed emissions by 2050. To reach these ambitious goals, Akbank is embarking on a comprehensive program in 2023 to achieve net-zero commitments in its operations and bank-only loan portfolio. This monumental task ahead and its results are expected to become a key milestone on Akbank’s sustainability journey. In addition, this effort will open the way for Sabancı Group’s banking institution to become the primary bank of choice for the transition to a low-carbon economy.