Turkey’s Islamic lender Albaraka Turk has set up a sukuk programme with a nominal value of up to $1 billion.

The Medium Term Notes (MTN) scheme will enable the bank to issue sukuk in multiple currencies and tenors, including sustainable sukuk issuances, according to a statement on Wednesday.

With the scheme, the lender looks to raise funds in international markets to meet “general financing requirements”, as well as attract more investors and funding sources, the statement noted.

The programme, which will also enable both public issuances and private placements, marks the first international public MTN sukuk programme by a Turkish bank.

Ratings agency Fitch just assigned this month a long-term rating of “B-” and a short-term rating of “B” to the sukuk issuance programme.

The programme is listed on the International Securities Market (ISM).

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria) seban.scaria@lseg.com