EBRD invests €100 million in Garanti BBVA funding programme for Türkiye SMEs

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EBRD invests in Turkish SMEs

Highlights

EBRD invests €100 million in Garanti BBVA senior rated notes to support lending to women- and youth-led SMEs in Türkiye.
Half of the funding (€50 million) targets women-owned SMEs under the Türkiye Women in Business II programme, with the other half for youth-led enterprises.
The package includes first-loss risk cover from Türkiye Credit Guarantee Fund and non-financial advisory services for women-led businesses, especially growth-stage and tech firms.

Funding structure targets underserved entrepreneurs

As reported by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the institution is investing €100 million in senior rated notes issued under Garanti BBVA’s existing diversified payment rights programme to support lending to women- and youth-led businesses in Türkiye.

The funding gives Garanti BBVA longer-term financing backed by current and future foreign-currency payment orders generated through its payments business. The structure is designed to help diversify the bank’s wholesale funding base while expanding access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Half of the investment, €50 million, is being provided under the Türkiye Women in Business II programme for on-lending to women-owned or women-led SMEs. Under that programme, Garanti BBVA is seeking to broaden financing access for women entrepreneurs, including firms outside Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, as well as first-time borrowers.

The remaining €50 million is being provided under the Türkiye Youth in Business programme, which supports micro, small and medium-sized enterprises managed or majority-owned by people under 35. The package is also accompanied by first-loss risk cover from the Türkiye Credit Guarantee Fund, underwritten by the Turkish Treasury.

Advisory services and wider market impact

The programme also includes non-financial support for eligible women-led businesses, including advisory services, training, mentoring, networking and knowledge products. The EBRD says this support may place particular emphasis on growth-stage and technology-oriented companies.

Francis Malige, the EBRD’s Managing Director for Financial Institutions, says women and young entrepreneurs remain central to Türkiye’s long-term competitiveness but continue to face barriers in finance and know-how. Garanti BBVA CEO Mahmut Akten says the financing strengthens the bank’s longstanding partnership with the EBRD and supports more inclusive growth through dedicated funding for women and young entrepreneurs.

This transaction is Garanti BBVA’s first under the TurWiB II programme, following its participation in the first phase of the EBRD’s Women in Business initiative. It is also the bank’s first transaction under the Türkiye Youth in Business programme, while the EBRD says it has committed more than €26 billion in Türkiye since 2009, largely in the private sector.

Our earlier article on Pakistan’s push to expand priority-sector lending covered the government’s plans to widen credit access for housing, agriculture and SMEs through higher lending targets and faster, simplified application processes. It also outlined proposed measures such as regulatory tweaks, risk-sharing arrangements and public-private partnerships aimed at removing structural barriers and increasing banks’ capacity to finance small businesses and other underserved borrowers.

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