Yapı Kredi: a focus on Turkey
Sustainability projects
Yapı Kredi strives to be more than a bank by generating value beyond its business achievements. Yapı Kredi
works to address the interests of all of its shareholders and make a positive impact on its communities. It not
only meets the financial needs of its customers but also acts with an awareness of its broader responsibilities.
Thus, as a good corporate citizen, it carries out social responsibility projects related to education, art and
culture, and the environment.
To this end, Yapı Kredi’s sustainability activities are managed by its Corporate Social Responsibility Projects
unit, which is part of its Corporate Communications department. This unit also works to build and maintain
relationships with non-governmental organizations operating in Turkey.
I Read, I Play
Since 2006, Yapı Kredi and the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey (TEGV) have joined forces to run
the I Read, I Play project. Focused on instilling a love of reading among children between the ages of 7 to 11
years old, the project cultivates independent thinking, creativity, expression, and understanding of the value
and need to participate in a reading culture. TEGV volunteers lead I Read, I Play sessions at their 11 training
parks and 55 education units across Turkey. By the end of 2012, more than 100,000 children have participated
in the program.
Finance professorship at Koç University
Yapı Kredi established a finance professorship at Koç University to support scientific studies in Turkey, with
an emphasis on finance, and to strengthen the relationship between the banking sector and academia. This
program is the first of its kind to be initiated by a member of the Turkish banking sector. Yapı Kredi appointed
Associate Professor Oğuzhan Özbaş to serve as the Yapı Kredi Professor of Finance. Previously, Professor Özbaş
taught MBA- and PhD-level finance courses at the University of Southern California.
Yapı Kredi Technical and Vocational High School for Girls
Yapı Kredi officially inaugurated the Yapı Kredi Technical and Vocational High School for Girls in 2009. In
2012, the bank launched a scholarship program at this school for high-performing students from low-income
families. To date, 10 students have been awarded scholarships through this program.
Vocational Education: A Crucial Matter for the Nation
Yapı Kredi has been as strong supporter of Koç Holding’s social project Vocational Education: A Crucial Matter
for the Nation since it was created in 2006. As part of the project, 48 Yapı Kredi employees have volunteered to
be vocational coaches for 370 high school scholarship students.
56 2012 Sustainability Report · UniCredit