SACE AND YAPI KREDI TO EXPAND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN ITALY AND

The Italian export credit company SACE and the leading Turkish , Yapı Kredi, announced the signing of a cooperation agreement during a joint business event in , respresenting SACE Turkey's fifth anniversary

Istanbul, September 10th - SACE and Yapı Kredi have finalized an important collaboration agreement intended to expand the opportunities for trade and investment between Italy and Turkey by facilitating initiatives of mutual interest. The agreement calls for a bolstering of the channels of communication and information exchange between SACE and Yapı Kredi to select strategic projects and facilitate access to sources of financing for companies operating in the Turkish market and interested in purchasing goods and services from Italy. The signed agreement has been announced today during a key business event organized by SACE in Istanbul (at Grand Tarabya Hotel) with Yapı Kredi and UniCredit. The event, representing the fifth year of activity of SACE Istanbul Office, hosted executives and managers from nearly 150 corporations and financial institutions. In the event, Niccolo Ubertalli, the Deputy CEO of Yapı Kredi said the following in his speech: “This Agreement is another showcase for Yapı Kredi to prove its strength and expertise as a bank well experienced in foreign trade finance, and pursuant to it, UniCredit has the chance to show once more that it is always within the easy reach of its Turkish customers and UniCredit is eager to support them with viable and reasonable finance options” Michal Ron, Managing Director, Head of International Network at SACE made a speech during the ceremony and stated: “Over the past few years, SACE’s activity in Turkey has steadily grown to a significant exposure of 2.3 billion Euros, confirming Turkey as a strategic market in our portfolio. Today’s Agreement is a fundamental step forward, laying the basis for a stronger collaboration framework with a key player like Yapı Kredi. We are are looking forward to exploring new paths to facilitating further trade & investment between Italy and Turkey, including areas such as the leasing sector”. Moreover, Prof. Dr. Refet Gurkaynak, the Dean of Faculty of Economics at Bilkent University, delivered a presentation titled “The Present and Future Standing of Turkish Economy”.

About SACE and Kredi SACE offers export credit, credit assurance, foreign investment protection services, financial guarantees, sureties and factoring. With operations worth €74 billion assured in 189 countries, the SACE Group supports the competitiveness of Italian and foreign businesses, guaranteeing more stable cash flows and transforming enterprise insolvency risks into development opportunities. As the first national of Turkey, Yapı Kredi has set the standards for the Turkish banking sector introducing innovative products and services since 1944. Koç Holding, one of the biggest conglomerates of Turkey and UniCredit, the largest banking group of Europe hold an equal share in Yapı Kredi which is/became the fourth largest private bank of Turkey with 19.545 employees and 10.9 million active customers.Adhering to a customer-centric strategy and segment-based service model, Yapı Kredi delivers its service through a network consisting of 1.013 branches and more than 4.025 ATMs in addition to its rich-content internet and telephone banking applications.Yapı Kredi has in three different countries; Russia, Azerbaijan, Netherlands and Malta.

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