As the world economy and developed countries experienced some recovery in 2015, emerging markets, especially China, struggled with their slowing economies. As a result, global economic growth fell short of desired levels. Meanwhile, Turkey began the year facing uncertainties on multiple fronts. However, given that the current account deficit declined despite two general elections and the Russia crisis, as we look at year-end growth forecasts, we are hopeful for 2016.

Of late, the domestic savings rate and the private pension system increasingly come up in discussions surrounding the current account gap. Turkey's private pension system completed its twelfth year in 2015. It has expanded considerably since 2013 – in particular after the introduction of the state contribution – and continued to grow rapidly during the year. The number of participants in the system reached more than 6 million* while the total fund size expanded 25% in 2015, to more than TL 47 billion*. More good news for the sector is that this remarkable growth has been realized across the entire country. Meanwhile, the state's subsidy contribution, which helped attract all segments of society across Turkey to the private pension system, has grown to TL 4.8 billion*.

Widely known as the pioneer of bancassurance in Turkey and a model in the sector, Garanti Pension and Life continued to expand, thanks to its successful partnership with Garanti Bank. Our Company closed the year with 993 thousand participants* and fund size of TL 7.6 billion, as we continued to grow in every city in Turkey.

In 2015, our Company continued to demonstrate a solid performance in the life insurance segment as well. Expansion and contraction in Turkey's life insurance sector are largely dependent on consumer loans. However, Garanti Pension maintained stable growth in 2015, gaining an 8.9% market share with premium production totaling TL 329 million. In order to provide faster service to customers, our Company took the most successful projects which it had developed to boost private pension sales processes and adapted them to the life insurance segment during the year. With our customer-oriented sales project, we aim to take our service quality to the next level by analyzing the expectations of our employees and customers. In the coming year, we will continue to focus our efforts on these areas in line with our continuous improvement approach.

We won the "Gold"!

With the belief that company performance can only be improved by investing in human capital, Garanti Pension and Life became the first private pension company in Turkey to receive the "Gold" certificate granted by Investors in People, the only international quality standard in human resources. Our main goal is to make our employees, our most important asset, happy.

Happy employees and satisfied customers are central to our success.

Since the day we began implementing "Employee-Focused" and "Customer-Centric" strategies as a fundamental management principle, Garanti Pension has strived to deliver an experience that exceeds all expectations, by placing its employees and customers at the center of all the Company's business processes. As a result of these efforts, our employee satisfaction level rose to 71% in 2015, up from 56%. In addition, our Company's Net Promoter Score (NPS), an important indicator of our customer-centered practices, climbed to +63, a very high score by world standards, which made us all proud.

We set out on a journey towards sustainability.

We have taken a big step forward by taking into consideration not only the financial, but also the social and environmental aspects of sustainable development. As a company that leads the sector with its innovative practices, Garanti Pension has signed the United Nations Global Compact, demonstrating our commitment to implementing the internationally recognized principles related to human rights, labor standards, environmental protection and anti-corruption efforts. In addition, Garanti Pension achieved yet another milestone in pursuit of sustainability and signed the United Nations Women's Empowerment Principles, which aim to advance gender equality and strengthen the role of women in society.

Under the "Back to School" initiative, we secured the future of 700 children.

With our social responsibility project "Back to School," ongoing for five years now, Garanti Pension and Life has reached out to a total of 5,500 students and their parents. To date, our Company has helped some 700 children leave their jobs and return to school, where they belong.

"Garanti Pension" has been the most profitable** company in the sector for the sixth year in a row.

In 2015, sector-wide profitability remained restricted. In contrast, Garanti Pension and Life achieved its sustainable profitability goal for the year, generating technical profit of TL 130 million in the life insurance segment and TL 33 million in the private pension segment. Standing out as the most profitable** company in the sector, Garanti Pension and Life's net profit rose to TL 191 million in 2015. As in the past five years, Garanti Pension was the most profitable company in the sector in 2015 as well. Thanks to business processes focused on operational efficiency, financial awareness and effective balance sheet management, our Company continues to grow and gain value in the sector.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all our valuable employees, with whom we celebrate our Company's great achievements and confidently move forward into the future; to our participants and policyholders who have preferred our Company; and to our stakeholders, from whom we derive our strength.

I am looking forward to building on our success and strength, and sharing with you the joy and pride of further achievements in 2016.

Respectfully yours,