Message from the CEO

In 2024, global economic focus centered on inflation trends and policy rate cuts by central banks in advanced economies, while geopolitical risks remained a key concern due to their potential impact. The delayed effects of previous interest rate hikes and monetary tightening steps by global central banks in their fight against inflation have led to improvements in inflation indicators. Although geopolitical risks and commodity price fluctuations continue to pose major challenges to disinflation, favorable supply conditions and a cautious monetary policy stance have contributed to a global slowdown in inflation. Consequently, while the world’s central banks began reducing interest rates in response to the improved inflation outlook, they opted to maintain a cautious approach.

Amid these global fluctuations and risks, positive outcomes have emerged from the Turkish economic program implemented over the past year, which aims to strengthen our country’s economy. Türkiye’s banking sector is effectively providing the necessary financing in line with the economic program and relevant regulations while maintaining a balanced balance sheet.
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In 2024, Ziraat Bank, the leading bank in the sector, saw its asset size expand by 42%, climbing to nearly TL 5.4 trillion. Cash loans, the Bank’s largest asset item, surpassed TL 2.8 trillion, with corporate loans, which make up 85% of cash loans, primarily directed towards agriculture, exports, investments, and SMEs – key contributors to economic growth. Overall, the Bank’s total financing contribution to the economy exceeded TL 3.8 trillion, including more than TL 1 trillion in non-cash loans.

Ziraat Bank is the largest provider of financing for exports, a critical component of balanced and stable economic growth. We support SMEs, vital for employment and production, by offering products with favorable conditions.
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In 2024, we maintained our unwavering leadership in agricultural financing by delivering innovative solutions tailored to meet producers’ needs. With a market share of over 70%, we increased our agricultural loan balance to over TL 600 billion, achieving more than ninefold growth in the last five years and significantly boosting the country’s agricultural production. At Ziraat Bank, we remain committed to providing timely and effective financing for the agricultural sector, utilizing appropriate credit models, and adopting a “from field to table” approach at every stage of agricultural production. To ensure a sustainable future for the agricultural industry, we adopt an integrated approach that addresses climate change, combats drought, protects biodiversity, promotes rural development, and supports agricultural research and development.
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We offer financial solutions aimed at improving the export of value-added agricultural products, promoting domestic production of imports, and advancing the use of mechanization and cutting-edge technology in agricultural enterprises. Our priority is to provide financing support for the storage, processing, packaging, and marketing activities of farmers and agricultural enterprises. In 2024, Ziraat Bank remained committed to creating alternative income sources for young people and women in agriculture, as well as fostering agricultural entrepreneurship.
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By focusing on financing sustainable agriculture, we are developing innovative products to raise awareness in agricultural production, strengthen the agricultural ecosystem, and expand digital agricultural banking practices. Our main priorities include boosting productivity in agricultural production and supporting the adoption of advanced technologies. We achieve this via the credit facilities we offer for projects like pressurized irrigation systems, licensed warehousing, and cold storage investments.
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Our country is actively engaged in the green transformation process to achieve the 2053 carbon neutrality target. As Türkiye’s largest bank, Ziraat Bank holds significant transformative potential for the national economy. Aligned with responsible banking principles, Ziraat Bank is committed to prioritizing investments that minimize negative environmental and social impacts while promoting sustainability.
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Our Bank offers a diverse range of products and operates domestic subsidiaries that effectively address the varied financing needs of our customers. We have expanded our subsidiaries to include payment systems and digital banking, alongside participation banking, asset management, brokerage firms, information technologies, real estate, and venture capital investment trusts. In the near future, our financial leasing subsidiary will commence operations, further enhancing our ability to meet all our customers’ financial needs via both product diversity and a broad range of financial services.
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Ziraat Bank’s international network also spans 20 countries across Europe, the Middle East, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Africa, and Asia. We strive to increase our effectiveness in these regions while also expanding our service network into new markets where Türkiye’s entrepreneurs are active and hold great potential. We opened service points in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt in 2024, and at the beginning of 2025, we launched our Algeria Branch, further extending our global service network. As the Turkish Bank with the most extensive overseas presence, we currently provide banking services at 127 locations in 20 countries, aligned with our high service quality and country-specific strategies. At Ziraat Bank, we place great importance on our credit processes. This focus is reflected in our non-performing loan ratio of 1.2%, significantly lower than the industry average. Furthermore, 68% of non-performing loans have been provisioned, effectively reducing risk to a very low level.
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The broad-based structure of deposits—the primary funding source of the balance sheet—has been preserved, while the weight of Turkish lira deposits has been increased. To optimize the funding mix and address domestic financing needs, non-deposit funding from abroad has been utilized. In 2024, this foreign funding rose by USD 7.5 billion, totaling USD 18.5 billion.
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Ziraat Bank operates the country’s largest service network with 1,781 branches and 7,757 ATMs, and is the sole bank in 362 settlements. The Bank is committed to improving customer satisfaction and heavily invests in digital banking to provide easy access to financial services at any time. Ziraat Mobile is Türkiye’s most popular mobile banking application, with over 23 million active users. One in five digital transactions in the country occurs via our Bank’s channels. In addition, 96% of all transactions at our Bank are conducted via non-branch channels. The customer base of our digital branch, Super Branch, has reached 1.2 million. Our Super Platform, designed to deliver non-banking products and services to retail customers via collaborations with various companies, and our Z-Transformation Platform, which supports the digitalization journey of SMEs, continue to provide an enriched array of services to our customers.
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Our Bank maintains a strong position in the payment systems sector, leading the debit card and merchant markets, while also benefiting from ongoing growth in the credit card market.
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At Ziraat Bank, we remain committed to efficiency-driven initiatives that support our customers both domestically and internationally, foster our own development, and provide greater value to the economy.
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On behalf of Türkiye’s leading bank, I want to express my gratitude to our dedicated colleagues, as well as our business partners and customers, who contributed to our success.
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Alpaslan ÇAKAR
CEO