Financial Services

The foreign presence in the Turkish banking market is currently undergoing a shake up, with new entrants arriving looking to expand their presence in a large and dynamic emerging market, while others are looking to pull out due to external pressures.

Turkey’s banking sector has proved resilient to both the global economic crisis and more recent fluctuations in the country’s economy. Loan growth remains fairly high by developed-market standards but has trimmed in recent years, reflecting the market’s increasing maturity as well as regulatory moves to contain credit expansion with an eye on risk profiles.

As the IMF and others have noted, the Turkish banking system’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio is relatively low, despite the recent economic slowdown and foreign exchange risk. The ratio varies across the sector, however, with some banks more susceptible than others. While NPLs are not high by regional standards – and even by those of some eurozone members – and are well-...