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The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has invested $100 million in Turkish lender Akbank’s digitally native gender bond, the first of its kind globally, issued entirely on a blockchain-based platform to support women’s economic participation in Türkiye.
The bond was launched as a Digitally Native Note (DNN), a type of security issued and settled using distributed ledger technology (DLT), enabling same-day settlement and secure decentralized recordkeeping.
The transaction achieved T+0 settlement, meaning it was completed on the same day it was issued, a key milestone in digital capital market infrastructure.
The bond was issued via Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (D-FMI), with Citi acting as dealer and issuing and paying agent.
Proceeds from the issuance will be used to provide financing to women-owned small and medium enterprises (WSMEs) and to expand access to mortgage loans for women in Türkiye.
"This transaction is both a technological breakthrough and a financing model with social impact at its core," said Sebnem Muratoglu, Akbank’s Executive Vice President for Treasury and Financial Institutions.
She emphasized that the initiative aligns with the bank’s goal of combining innovation in financial markets with gender-focused economic development.
IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, views the bond as a model for combining fintech and inclusive development. "By leveraging digital technology for thematic financing, we are setting new standards for innovation and opening pathways for other investors," said Momina Aijazuddin, IFC’s Regional Industry Head for the Financial Institutions Group for the Middle East and Central Asia.
She added that expanding access to capital for women-led businesses is transformative, not only for individual entrepreneurs but also for job creation and economic resilience.
The initiative draws on the expertise of the World Bank Group, including IFC and the World Bank Treasury, which have been active in shaping standards and practices for digital bonds, aiming to integrate emerging technologies into capital markets while maintaining regulatory robustness.
Founded in 1948, Akbank is the fourth-largest private bank in Türkiye, with total assets of $77.9 billion and equity of $6.7 billion as of the latest available figures.
IFC has invested more than $23.5 billion in Türkiye’s private sector over the past decade, and the new digital gender bond adds to its growing portfolio of projects that blend financial innovation with impact investing.
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