The history of a bank that is almost the same age as the republic
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk stated in 1924, shortly after the declaration of the republic: “Paramount among measures that will liberate and augment the nation is the establishment of a bank, utterly modern and national in identity, born directly out of the people’s respect and confidence…”.
also sheds light on the economic history of Türkiye
By Erol Güler
A Historic Mission: In the newly established Republic, there was a deeply rooted sentiment signaling the need for a indeed national establishment and the birth of a banking system that was capable of the financing means to back up economic activities, manage funds, and, where necessary, extend resources that could trigger industrial impetus. The birth of a new country depended heavily on the presence of banking activities nationwide, the drive for industrial development, animating national savings, financing fundamental economic breakthroughs, and the means to meet financial borrowings. Türkiye was in great economic difficulties and suffered from a shortage of qualified and talented human resources in banking. İş Bankası began operating at a time of such economic strain.
Brand Finance, the world’s leading international brand valuation and strategy consultancy organization, announced its “Banking 500” report for 2024, which ranks the most valuable brands in the banking sector. Celebrating its 100th anniversary, Türkiye İş Bankası ranked first among Turkish banks with the highest brand value. In the evaluations conducted based on publicly available financial data, İş Bankası ranked first among banks in Türkiye in the evaluation made according to criteria like brand power reflecting characteristics such as financial performance, sustainability, emotional bond established with the consumer, and estimated brand revenues. İş Bankası General Manager Hakan Aran, in his evaluation on the subject, said, “In our 100th year, I find it very valuable to be ranked first in such a ranking that goes beyond financial results and takes as its basis the reputation and brand value in the eyes of all stakeholders. It is a source of pride for us to be ranked first in this list, which once again confirms that trust and innovation, the two most important foundations of a strong banking brand, are among the strongest aspects of our Bank, which acts with the vision of being the bank of the future. and a means of happiness.”
Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları / İş Bankası Publishing Company
Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları was founded by Hasan Âli Yücel in 1956.
Hasan Âli Yücel (1897–1961) was a Turkish education reformer and philosophy teacher who also had served as minister of education of Türkiye. He is remembered among many other contributions for the foundation of Köy Enstitüleri (Village Institutes).
Hasan Âli Yücel combined the speed and experience he gained from his work to translate the “world classics” into Turkish and make them widely read with the power he gained from Türkiye İş Bankası, thus establishing one of the important and deep-rooted publishing houses of Türkiye.
The first book published was Zabit ve Komutan ile Hasbihal (A Conversation with the Officer and the Commander) which is the book written by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk about his views on the Ottoman army and military service. This was followed by books that would form a comprehensive Atatürk library. With the publication of studies examining our history, social structure, and ethnographic and geographical characteristics, the publishing house became indispensable, primarily for researchers and gradually for all intellectuals. Today, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları has a strong portfolio with the books he published in the Classics Series, Modern Classics Series, Children and Youth, and Research and Review categories. The publishing house continues to add the books of deep-rooted writers of Turkish and World Literature to the literary world.
Following a comprehensive renovation, the Turkish İş Bank Museum reopened its doors to visitors with the permanent exhibition: “100 Years of İş Bankası.” The museum tells the story of İş Bank’s century-long history, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, with documents, photographs, films and collection pieces.
The Türkiye İş Bankası Museum, has been providing service in its historical building in Eminönü since 2007, which has hosted around 2,600,000 visitors since its opening and hosted over 135,000 students in its qualified workshops and events free of charge. The museum has been continuing renovation works for a while to meet its guests with a much more modern appearance and an enriched exhibition layout on the August 24, 2024.
They went into the renovation process considering the building had been somewhat worn out over time, considering that new developments in exhibition techniques have emerged, and the growth of the archive with new photographs and documents. As the bank was entering their 100th year, they also felt the need to tell their story better. They wanted to tell the story of İş Bankası’s establishment, development, technology and transformation into today’s modern bank, and its contribution to society, with a brand-new technique. There are also photographs seen for the first time in this exhibition. Some never-before-seen photographs of the İzmir Economic Congress are among them.
The curator of the renewed Türkiye İş Bankası Museum was Associate Professor Dr Y Doğan Çetinkaya, who is also the author of the book titled Intelligence, Attention and Chastity – 100 Years of İş, and the exhibition design was done by Pattu Architecture.
The new exhibition layout, which spreads over two floors of the building, focuses on the foundation and development years of İş Bankası on the ground floor. In a way, the corporate history of Iş Bankası reflects the history of the foundation and development of Türkiye as well. In eight successive halls the visitors can get an idea of the history of Iş Bankası, which is as old as the Republic of Türkiye, in chronological order. There are 4 main sections on the ground floor: The establishment story of İş Bankası accompanied by early period documents in the “İktisadi Bağımsızlığın Bankası (Bank of Economic Independence)” section; how the bank trained and transformed the limited human capital in its early years in “İş Bankacısı (The bankers of İş);” how the savings campaigns accelerated by the piggy bank revealed the savings that would form the basis for investments and the spread of the branch network in Anatolia in “Büyüme, Sermaye, Tasarruf (Growth, Capital, Savings);” and the leading role İş Bankası assumed in industrial development, especially in the early years of the Republic, and the details of the numerous factories and enterprises it established to operate in a wide range of sectors from coal to sugar and insurance to glass are presented to the attention of visitors in the “İştiraklerin Bankası (Bank of Subsidiaries).” On the upper floor of the museum, emphasis is placed on technological transformation, today’s banking and corporate social responsibility projects. Technological transformation and developing digital service delivery that can be experienced both in banking and in daily life can be observed on this floor through collection pieces such as typewriters, calculators, and first computers used in printing and calculations. İş Bankası’s activities carried out in line with its principles such as sustainability and gender equality, programs that create an entrepreneurial ecosystem, the Bank’s corporate social responsibility projects, education, environment, sports and culture-art activites, and past advertisements are also located on the upper floor.
The Main Cash Safe and Safe Deposit Box section, which have been integral parts of the building since 1928, and the Atatürk Hall, whose decoration was renewed by taking inspiration from original photographs, are also expected to attract significant interest from visitors as in previous years. The Türkiye İş Bankası Museum can be visited free of charge every day between 10:00-18:00 except Mondays. ■
MUSEUM BUILDING
The historical building of Türkiye İş Bankası Museum, was built by architect Yovan Kastoryadis and opened on September 23, 1892, as the Istanbul Post Office. With the opening of the currently operating Grand Post Office in Sirkeci in 1909, the Yenicami building continued its activities as a package post office. In 1923, the ownership of the building was transferred to “İtibar-ı Milli Bankası.” In 1927, when this bank joined Türkiye İş Bankası, the building was also transferred to İş Bankası. Following the merger, the Istanbul branches of the two banks began to provide service as a single branch in the Yenicami building as of February 20, 1928. During this process, a new floor was added to the building, vaults were brought from abroad, and the Atatürk bust made by Kenan Yontunç was placed on the magnificent stairs of the building.
The building was one of the most important branches of İş Bankası and was called Yenicami Branch and served as a branch until 2004. In 2005, work began to convert the building into a museum. The original furniture and branch layout were preserved as they were, the main safe and safe deposit boxes in the basement were arranged to be opened for exhibition. İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları bookstore was also positioned on the ground floor.
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Erol Guler, PhD, is the co-owner of GT Consultants LLC in Virginia. Previously, he was the co-owner of the ELC Group in Istanbul, Türkiye, for 20 years, which was acquired later by the global consulting engineering firm Royal HaskoningDHV. He has served as the principal geotechnical engineer to more than 200 projects in Türkiye and many different countries. He is also a retired professor from Bogazici University where he dedicated 37 years. Since 2017, he has served as an affiliate professor at George Mason University.
