Turkey Financial Services

With the launch of a new stock exchange, Borsa Istanbul, Turkey has taken one more step towards achieving its goal of becoming a regional financial centre.

A strong performance from Turkey’s banks last year produced a significant rise in total assets and an increase in equity capital, generating impressive growth across the industry. Turkish banks also continued to strengthen their position on the international stage by further diversifying their services, with a number of financial institutions extending their reach into the growing Islamic financial services segment.

As the pension sector in Turkey prepares for upcoming regulatory changes, moves are under way in the private sector to transfer the pension departments of banks into more independent segments. Both of these developments are promising, given that they may lead to an increase in the domestic savings rate, which is currently low.

Having issued two highly anticipated Islamic bonds (sukuk) recently and boasting continuing expansion in the conventional banking segment, Turkey looks set to maintain its current growth trend in financial services. However, there is still some cause for concern, with one sukuk not performing as well as expected and the economy likely to miss its target of 4% growth for 2012.

The insurance market in Turkey is bracing itself for consolidation following a decade of growth that has brought key international players to the country eager to play a part in the sector’s development. Buoyed by the introduction of the Turkish Insurance Law almost five years ago, the industry has expanded steadily.

While Turkey’s stock market, like most around the world, has witnessed reversals over the year so far, especially in recent months, it has remained a solid long-term investment, out-performing its emerging market peers.