Sustainable Governance

Sustainability is a key part of the business approach employed by ING Türkiye with its experiences at the global scale and its consciousness of the role of sustainability and climate change in the responsible banking approach, the Bank embraces and manages these topics at the top management level. The governance and climate-related governance and processes of the subsidiaries of ING Türkiye are also covered by ING Türkiye’s processes.

At ING Türkiye, the Board of Directors is responsible for the formulation and implementation of the sustainability and climate strategy and monitoring the performance therein, and effective management and oversight of risks and opportunities. The Board of Directors ensures that sustainability matters are integrated into the Bank’s strategy and that adequate resources and governance infrastructure are provided in this scope. All sustainability-related decision-making processes, including the provision of adequate resources to manage, limit and control relevant risks and the approval of relevant frameworks and policies, are submitted for the approval of the Board of Directors.

The internal governance mechanism for sustainability and climate is built on a multi-layered structure.

At ING Group, we prioritize environmental awareness and human rights in all countries we operate in and in our business relationships. In addition to national and international laws and regulations, we act in accordance with the Environmental and Social Risk Policies created with the awareness of responsibility to society in financial decisions and intermediated transactions.

In line with our social, ethical, and environmental vision, our Environmental and Social Risk Policies that were created to guide our activities have become an integral part of ING's credit risk management practices. In other words, we examine any potential social and environmental impact of our activities (such as destruction of forests, air pollution, child labor, and controversial weapons). 

These policies are developed and updated through our collaboration with organizations concerned with topics such as human rights and climate change, as well as through engagement with our employees, customers, and shareholders. Prior to establishing any customer relationship, an initial compliance assessment is conducted in accordance with our Environmental and Social Risk policies, which are regularly reviewed and updated. Business relationships formed following this initial assessment are supported by ongoing monitoring. In this context, ING’s relevant expert teams provide guidance, follow-up, and evaluation on potential environmental and social sensitivities specific to the customer, activity, sector, and transaction.

Moreover, since 2003, ING Group has voluntarily adopted the Equator Principles, which are based on the environmental and social responsibility standards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and are accepted as the basis for financing projects over USD 10 million by international banks that have adopted them on a voluntary basis.

Within this framework, social responsibility and environmental risk are considered in project financing and actions are taken in line with relevant standards. In addition, the compliance with global responsibility standards of the ING Group and the success of our work in this area are also demonstrated by evaluations conducted by third party institutions.

In the scope of green entrepreneurship, ING is particularly focused on energy and heat savings in both its branches that interact with customers and its headquarters offices.  ING's Operation and Call Center in Kahramanmaraş, which is designed according to eco-friendly building criteria, serves as an example in terms of "sustainable" and "human-oriented" design solutions.

Additionally, ING Türkiye places great importance on improving the sustainability of its procurement activities, promoting the provision of sustainable products and services and taking into account the environmental and social dimensions of purchased products and services. 

ING Türkiye also prioritizes the adoption, support and inclusion of a series of fundamental values related to human rights, labor standards, the environment, and the fight against corruption by its suppliers within their sphere of influence, through written regulations.

Conflict, instability, displacement, discrimination, climate change – the world faces major social challenges around human development and human rights. These issues inspire global efforts to secure a truly sustainable and prosperous future for all.

Human rights are universal. This means that every person around the world deserves to be treated with dignity and have their interests considered equally. Governments have the duty to protect individuals against human rights abuses. The UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights also outline the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. Beyond this, businesses are increasingly recognizing their own moral, legal, and commercial role. The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights form the basis for what businesses should adhere to.

On the one hand, businesses can hinder human rights, as evidenced by reports around the world of unsafe working conditions, migrant worker exploitation, and harm done to communities. On the other hand, businesses can help advance human rights by offering access to decent work, creating higher living standards, protecting people’s rights and procuring goods in a responsible manner.


As a bank, we make a substantial contribution to human rights as financier, employer, service provider and driver of progress and prosperity. Our impact is on different levels:

• Our workplace
• Our supply chain
• How we do business and who we do business with
• Partnering and sharing knowledge

In the most recent Human Rights Report (2022/2023) of ING Group, we detail the reassessment of the most severe human rights issues with regards to our workforce and Wholesale Banking activities, and present our first assessment of salient human rights issues in our role as a procurer of goods and services. 

Human rights and the workplace:

Our business centres around trust, as we can only maintain our stakeholders’ confidence and preserve our company’s reputation by acting with professionalism and integrity. This, and more, is all outlined in our Orange Code – our ING set of values and behaviours.

Everyone working at ING Türkiye is expected to adhere to ING Group’s global code of conduct. It builds on our Orange Code – the values and behaviours that underpin our way of working – and is based on the policies and guidelines we follow in our daily business.

We value our employees and seek to be a good employer. We promote the personal and professional growth of our employees by providing good primary and secondary benefits and development opportunities. This creates an environment where our people not only do well but can also do good.

At ING, we value and encourage diversity. In order to stay one step ahead, we need colleagues from different backgrounds, with different perspectives, trained in different fields, or living under different conditions. We know that teams with diversity are more creative, adapt faster to change, and come up with solutions beyond the norm.

As our services expand, our customers and business partners are also becoming more diverse. To better understand our customers, our workforce and human resources must be as diverse as our customers. That's why it's important for everyone at ING to feel valued as part of the whole, regardless of their identity or beliefs.  This is the focus of our approach to diversity and inclusion.

At ING, we regard differences and freedom of thought as our strength 
To ensure that everyone at ING works in an environment where they are accepted for their unique qualities, feel free, unleash their full potential and therefore perform at their best, we are pioneering practices. Inclusion is also featured in our Orange Code, which encourages us to help others succeed.  

At the same time, one of our top priorities at ING Türkiye is gender equality. We aim to increase the proportion of women in management roles and help them manage the various roles in their lives in a more balanced way. We implement various practices to help our female colleagues achieve a balance between their social, family, and professional lives.

Thanks to our Flexi work practices, all of our colleagues come to the office only 6 days a month, work from wherever they want during the summer months, and take time off when they need it for themselves and their loved ones, thanks to our convenient our flexi leave application. 

At ING Türkiye, we focus on increasing awareness about diversity and inclusion through education and partnerships with non-governmental organizations, and by investing in women's leadership. Our human resources practices include maintaining a female managerial ratio of over 30% at all management levels, a gender balance of minimum 30-70% among managers, and a gender distribution of 50-50% on candidate lists for external recruitment processes.

We also implement various development activities including:

• "Diversity and Inclusion Psychology" training sessions for managers to raise awareness on different aspects of diversity and inclusion including different perspectives and ways of thinking.
• We include of diversity and inclusion as a separate topic in our "Recruitment Training" and "Every Manager is an HR Manager" training as part of our recruitment methodology, and make sure to address this topic in any training opportunity to create awareness among managers.
• Our managers at ING Türkiye participate in online trainings organized by the ING Global Group.
• We organize seminars and events during the "Diversity and Inclusion Week" that takes place simultaneously in all ING countries to focus on social gender equality, participation of individuals with disabilities in working life, and finally on diversity, which is our greatest strength.
• As a corporate member of YenidenBiz Association, a non-governmental organization dedicated to empowering women's employment in Türkiye, we actively participate in various projects. One such initiative involves our female managers voluntarily offering mentorship to women who have taken breaks from their careers for various reasons and now seek to re-enter the business world.

As ING, we aim to play a role in societal, economic and environmental transformation through our collaborations and memberships with leading institutions and organizations. We are among the signatories of the UN Global Compact Sustainable Finance Declaration. In addition, ING joined the Net-Zero Banking Alliance in August 2021, and updated our portfolio-related targets to align with global climate goals aimed at achieving a net-zero world by 2050.

As ING Türkiye, we also aim to create impact by collaborating with local organizations. In this regard, we take part in the working group of the Banks Association of Türkiye (TBB). Furthermore, we also support the initiatives of the Business Council for Sustainable Development Türkiye (SKD Türkiye) as one of its members.

At ING Türkiye, we value diversity and inclusion; we are among the signatories of the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles (UN WEPs), providing a guide for advancing gender equality in companies and empowering women in workplaces, markets and society. In addition, as a company committed to creating a more equal and inclusive working environment, ING is one of the companies recognized in the 2023 Bloomberg Gender Equality Index.

Through the following memberships and collaborations, we work to create a positive impact in the areas of climate change and financial health in line with our global strategy. Additionally, aligned with our digitalization strategy, we also prioritize supporting next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence.