Alternatif Bank, having focused on Accessible Banking activities to create an accessible banking experience based on rights for everyone, launched its “Accessible Banking Glossary” Project, which is a trailblazer in Turkey and in the banking sector. With the project conducted in cooperation with Social Rights and Studies Association (TOHAD) and Turkish Association of the Deaf and Their Families (IED) the Bank transforms the most commonly used banking terms into a series of content comprising short videos where they are explained with the support of sign language, vocalization, and simplified text. In the first stage of the content series, designed based on the challenges encountered in the society, particularly by the deaf, the elderly, and individuals with low financial literacy, special videos were created for almost 30 fundamental terms that are used most frequently. The Project is planned to become a video library that covers more than 100 banking terms in the near future. 

CEO Kaan Gür, conveying his opinions on the new project of Alternatif Bank in the area of Accessible Banking, states “One of the fundamental elements of our corporate culture as Alternatif Bank is ‘focus on people’. We consider our primary target as equal accessibility of all services that we offer by everyone. Based on this approach, we embarked on a journey to set an example for our sector, and we implemented a series of practices with Accessible Banking approach. One of our most innovative projects in this scope has been the Accessible Banking Glossary, which is a valuable output of Accessible Banking Ideathons that we organized for university students. Today, a substantial part of the society, particularly the deaf, experience difficulties in understanding banking terms. Unfortunately, this is due to not only poor financial literacy, but also absence of an exact equivalent of many banking terms in Turkish sign language or the fact that they have not been translated yet. I believe that we have taken an important step in terms of financial inclusion with our study aimed at solving this problem."

Alternatif Bank Corporate Communications Manager Levent Ulusoy, leading the Accessible Banking studies, says “We started our project, which required an intense preparation process, by identifying the banking terms that are used the most frequently in daily life. We transformed these terms into short video contents by means of sign language, vocalization, and simplified texts with the contributions of a valuable team comprising sign language experts, academics, and NGO representatives. Thus, we created a pool of content that can be easily understood by different groups of disability, particularly the deaf. Under the project, which we launched as a pilot project with 6 terms last year, we have reached 28 terms so far. We will enrich this series with more than 100 terms in the near future and turn it into a glossary that serves financial inclusion and that is open to public use. Our goal is to pioneer a change of mentality in our sector, rather than being an institution that settles for only observing the rules in the area of Accessible Banking. We will continue to play our part for this to happen.”

FAST, Remittance, IBAN, KOLAS, Time Deposit, Demand Deposit, EFT, Bank Account, Debit Card, BITT, Current Account, Abstract of Account, Exchange Rate, POS Device, Account Statement, Account Balance, Online Banking, Safe Deposit Box, Mortgage Loan, Loan Interest, Deposit Rate, Mobile Banking, Money Withdrawal, Money Deposit, SWIFT, Vehicle Loan, Value Date, Bank Transfer terms are explained in Alternatif Bank’s Banking Glossary video series by means of short films supported by sign language, vocalization, and simplified text. Alternatif Bank Banking Glossary video series is available on the corporate website and official YouTube channel of the Bank.