Garanti BBVA fully digitizes its sustainability loan applications
BBVA’s Turkish franchise has shifted a branch-only product to digital channels, enabling quicker access for clients funding sustainability-focused investments.
Garanti BBVA has moved sustainability loans to its mobile and Internet platforms, digitizing a product previously available only in branches. Corporate clients and retail customers alike can now apply online for financing to cut carbon emissions, boost energy efficiency and fund environmental upgrades, benefiting from faster access to funds while trimming time, operational costs and paper use.
Executive Vice President Cemal Onaran said the bank has long led in sustainable finance, offering green and social loans, eco‑friendly vehicle financing, sustainable bonds, advisory for environmental and social investments, and “blue finance” for water‑efficiency projects. Shifting sustainability loan applications to digital channels, he added, improves access, speed and efficiency, supports clients’ decarbonization and energy‑efficiency plans, simplifies their processes and aligns with the bank’s aim under its ‘We Do It Together’ approach to help lead Türkiye’s transition to a low‑carbon, more inclusive economy.
Garanti BBVA offers sustainability loans at favorable rates to finance customers’ green projects. Businesses and individuals can use the funds to tackle climate change, protect natural capital, advance the circular economy, support sustainable agriculture and water efficiency, build social infrastructure, and promote social equality and financial inclusion. Borrowers must document sustainability‑related spending with invoices, ensuring the money goes to genuinely sustainable projects. The bank credits the borrower’s account directly, not the creditor’s.
BBVA’s Turkish unit met its 2018–2025 sustainable‑finance target of 400 billion lira in the first half of 2025, and has raised the bar to 3.5 trillion lira for 2018–2029, implying roughly 3.1 trillion lira of additional funding for sustainable investments from the second half of 2025 through year‑end 2029.