Türkiye İş Bankası (İşbank) has issued a $100 million digital native note (DNN) on Euroclear’s D-FMI distributed ledger technology (DLT) infrastructure, with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, as the sole investor.

The proceeds from the digital bond will finance small and medium enterprises and farmers affected by the 2023 Turkish earthquake. The five-year bond carries a floating rate coupon based on the six-month SOFR rate and is governed by UK law. Citi served as sole dealer, issuing and paying agent, while Linklaters advised the IFC. R3’s Corda is the DLT that underpins the D-FMI platform.

İşbank becomes the fourth issuer to use Euroclear’s platform and the first Turkish organization to do so. The previous three issuers were all development finance institutions: the World Bank issued the first DNN on the platform in 2023, followed by the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with initially a $300 million issuance and a subsequent $200 million tap. French state entity Caisse des Dépôts (CDP) was the third issuer, with its DNN settled using a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) as part of Europe’s distributed ledger settlement trials.

The İşbank transaction marks the first time a private bank has used the platform, breaking the pattern of development bank participation.

“This issuance demonstrates how digital innovation and sustainable finance can go hand in hand, while maintaining the same regulatory certainty, liquidity, and settlement efficiency as with traditional bonds,” said Isabelle Delorme, Head of Product Strategy and Innovation at Euroclear.