​Çalık Holding and Aktif Bank's Senior Management held meetings with the President of the Gambia and the Ministers: Çalık Holding and Aktif Bank pay visit to Gambia

Senior Management of the Turkish Group, Çalık Holding, a reputable conglomerate globally known for their investments in the energy sector, and Aktif Bank, Turkey's leading investment bank committed to export-oriented operations in Africa, visited His Excellency Adama Barrow, the President of the Gambia, and the Ministries. During their visit, Çalık Holding and Aktif Bank representatives discussed the shared vision of the two countries as well as the ongoing and potential projects in the region. Çalık Holding and Aktif Bank are aimed at increasing their footprint in the African region.

Serdar Sumer, Member of Çalık Holding and Aktif Bank's Board of Directors, and Muzaffer Suat Utku, Executive Vice President of Aktif Bank's International Banking Group, paid a visit to the Gambia.  Having held meetings with the President of the Gambia and with the Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and Oil and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the Executives exchanged views on the ongoing projects in the region as well as potential cooperation areas. Among the sectors and opportunities discussed were banking, energy, infrastructure, healthcare, IPP and EPC.  

Adama Barrow expressed his gratitude to Aktif Bank for its operations and support to the banking sector in the Gambia.  Having selectively reviewed the projects of Çalık Holding in the region, His Excellency shared his excitement for the potential cooperation.

Mr. Utku: "We are one of the leading players in terms of banking relations in Africa"

Given its widespread banking network, Mr. Utku highlighted that Aktif Bank acts as a pioneer in the region as well as a financial bridge between Africa and the whole world. Mr. Utku said; "Thanks to those visits during the course of the pandemic, we are committed to increasing the opportunities we offer for Turkish exporters via our network of more than 300 correspondent banks. As a trade hub of the Western Africa, the Gambia is on our focus for Aktif Bank's trade finance activities.  We will continuously increase our exposure in Africa and our African foreign trade platform is soon to be launched."

Mr. Sumer: "We will continue with our energy investments in the region"

Serdar Sumer, Member of the Board of Directors of Çalık Holding and Aktif Bank, said, "We have ongoing projects and existing investments in energy, construction and mining sectors in Africa. We exchanged views with Mr. President, His Excellency, on the opportunities for those sectors in Gambia."

About Aktif Bank

Aktif Bank, the largest privately-owned investment bank in Turkey, stands out with its innovative business models, whereby it reinterprets the investment banking. The Bank, which addresses to more than 10 million customers in a wide range of business lines from loans to insurance, from transportation to card services and from payment systems to the world of entertainment within more than 10 business lines together with its subsidiaries and business partners, is focused mainly on corporate banking, investment banking and private banking with its 12 branches all across Turkey. Having a specialization in the fields of corporate banking and international banking, Aktif Bank not only offers service at challenging geographies but also makes significant contributions to the foreign trade volume of our country thanks to its network of more than one thousand correspondent banks s in 143 countries. Holding the leading entity position at the Turkish capital markets, Aktif Bank continues to break grounds in the industry. Having accomplished the first sustainable issuance, raising funds for the electricity industry in Turkey, the Bank pioneers the industry with its competence in the capital market products such as sukuk (lease certificate), ABS (Asset-Backed Securities) and gold-backed lease certificates. Aktif Bank continues to expand its individual customer base and to increase the size of assets under management also in private banking via its strong position in this field and also meets flexibly and rapidly the customers' needs for specialized products.