The corporate sponsor of the Turkish Chess Federation Turkish İş Bank is sponsoring the Atatürk International Masters for the second time but this time first event of the newly launched FIDE Women GP Cycle for 2009/2010. İş Bank, which had started the Turkish Chess revolution is not only an ordinary bank but also played an important role in the early years of the Turkish Republic. In modern Turkey, it is the most respected bank and one of the most important financial institutions in Turkey also a major contributor to the culture and sports.

Full history of Turkish İş Bank below.

The inception of the country's first truly national bank following the promulgation of the Republic dates back to 26 August 1924, mandated by Atatürk, consequent to the First Economy Congress in İzmir. Isbank begun to operate with two branches and 37 staff under the leadership of Celal Bayar, the first General Manager to run the bank.

The Grand Victory which preceded the proclamation of the Republic order entailed a period during which resolutions to the state's economic and social problems were sought. There was a growing and deeply rooted sentiment signalling the need for a truly national establishment and the birth of a banking system that was capable of the financing means to back up economic activities, managing funds accumulated as a result of policies providing savings incentives and where necessary extending resources which could trigger industrial impetus.

The birth of a new country depended heavily on the presence of banking activities nation wide, the drive for industrial development, animating national savings, financing fundamental economic breakthroughs and the means to meet financial borrowings. The aftermath of World War I culminated in a wide array of progress, including financial services which soon took off with an accelerated pace leading to technological advances and the designation of previously unheard methods and criteria governing business. Turkey was to suffer deprivation from such innovations and lacked qualified and skilled human resources. Isbank began operating at a time of such economic strain.

Isbank sustains continuous growth committed to its founding principles, restoring its strength and vigour with each passing year. The Bank tops the list of Turkey's most respected and trustful enterprises, while carving itself a place among the world's largest corporations. Isbank, a publicly traded firm since its inception enjoys a peerless stakeholder base. Since August 2005, 41.5 % of Isbank shares are held by Isbank's own private Pension Fund, 28.1 % are Ataturk's shares that are represented by Republican People's Party and 30.4 % are free float. In May 1998, 12.3% of the Bank's total shares previously held by the Turkish Treasury have been sold to national and international investors in a highly successful public offering. Today the shares are listed on the Istanbul (ISE) and London Stock Exchanges. The Bank's market capitalization valued at TRY 11,341,916 thousand by the end of December 2008 is the fourth one among private corporations in Turkey. As of 31st December 2008, Isbank's market value constitutes 6.23 % of the ISE market value where 317 corporations were traded and whose market value was TRY 182,120,940 thousand.

Isbank's Primary Innovations

The followings are examples of the Bank's forerunning achievements:

• Introduction of child's coin bank's which has triggered and made mainstream propensity to save in the society
• The use of cheques for daily transactions
• Initiating electronic banking in the country with a sound technological groundwork
• Introduction of ATM's. Isbank was the first in the industry to coin a generic name for teller machines
• Overseas branches in Europe and Cyprus
• Saving accounts
• Mutual funds
• Operation of an in house securities division
• Interactive banking service since July 1996
• Deployment of Netmatik machines, to enhance online banking among clients without access to PC's
• Introduction of mobile banking on WAP enabled GSM phones

The Bank deployed one of the world's most advanced online real time technologies in the light of head spinning innovations and developments that have influenced the banking sector following the 80's. Today(*) the Bank's,

• 3,375 ATMs
• 1,008 Kiosks
• 88 CRS
• 1,028 domestic branches
• 11 overseas branches
• Head Office
• Isbank GmbH in Germany which operates 15 branches across Europe
• 1 Representative office in China
• 1 Subsidiary in Dublin, Ireland are connected online real-time.

Such an advanced technology enables Isbank to run real time transactions and maintain uniformity of services throughout its network.

The state of the art hardware and software technologies deployed throughout the organization complement the Bank's on line real time operations and efficient self-service banking options all of which have equipped the Bank with an exemplar image in the global banking industry.