So much fuss has been made of the political issues raging around Turkey in recent years that it is easy to forget its financial markets. The question of Turkish membership of the EU has received more column inches throughout Europe and Turkey than many other issues put together. More recently, the question of how far Turkey’s secular traditions should be respected has been equally explosive. Interest in the situation extends far and wide, Turkey being the country the US holds up as an example of the kind of democratic, secular but Islamic state...Read more
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On a crude volume judgement alone it would be easy to conclude that the global credit crisis has bypassed Russia entirely. According to Thomson Financial, in the first three months of the year, Russian firms signed loans worth more than US$18bn making the country the third largest market in Europe. Although this figure is lower than the year prior it is impressive given the collapse in the bond market and general fall in global lending.
Benjamin Binetter - BNP Paribas Benjamin Binetter is head of loan syndications & trading for Russia and the CIS for energy & commodity structured finance. He joined BNP Paribas in 2005 and has overseen the bank’s development in Russia and the CIS, where his responsibility has included the origination and execution of major syndication mandates for the likes of Norilsk Nickel, Mechel, Rusal, Rosneft, System Capital Management and Metinvest. Christian Eberl - UniCredit Market and Investment Banking Christian joined HVB in 1988 and is director...
IFR: Russian lending has been in the tens of billions this year and so far the market appears to hold up well. But can this continue?
IFR: Retail bid disappeared last year partly on the back of the pricing being too low, but if pricing has increased, why haven’t they stepped back in?
Benjamin Binetter: In 2007, I think you are right in saying that. It was a very borrower-friendly market and we were gradually moving away from secured transactions. But that was only really reserved for a select few and for small amounts. We never actually really got to a market like in Western Europe of a pure plain vanilla market, because there is a still perceived risk tied to the country.
Once the preserve of a group of highly skilled FI borrowers, the Turkish loan market has now opened up to a wider range of corporate borrowers. Bank rather than fund dominated, the market avoided the excesses of the credit boom and is in good shape to take advantage of a steadily filling infrastructure and privatisation pipeline. David Cox reports.
Istanbul has long been a centre for both North-South and East-West trade, boasting a vibrant banking industry. Istanbul Stock Exchange senior vice chairman, Aril Seren, explains its history, the exchange’s role in the region and considers the credit crunch.
Turkey’s derivatives market, like many of its financial markets, has had to evolve in a climate of repeated financial crises and political turbulence. Turkey is a relative latecomer to the derivatives game and the industry is still modest in size, but the infrastructure is in place for the success of the last few years to continue. Solomon Teague reports.
Turkey’s small and medium-sized businesses have always been an underserved sector. They have traditionally taken on very little debt and have otherwise provided few opportunities for the banking sector. But this is now changing as the best Turkish SMEs look to expand and banks begin to develop products catering to their needs. Solomon Teague found out more.
Turkey’s regulatory regime was fashioned from the furnace of the 2001 banking crisis. Since then, its banking industry has been subjected to rigorous oversight. While some rue the constraint this has placed on profitability and the business it has driven offshore, others praise the regulator for learning the cruel lessons of the market. Solomon Teague reports.
Turkey is in the midst of a privatisation spree, with the government selling off its assets – predominantly in infrastructure – to meet its own financing needs. Bridges, ports and highways are up for grabs, as well as various other state owned assets. Solomon Teague looks at Turkey’s state sale bonanza.
When the US sneezes, they say, the world gets a cold. Emerging markets have provided some welcome evidence to the contrary, but this particularly nasty financial flu is proving its formidable powers of contagion. Turkey has been infected up to a point, so the questions now are how much worse it will get and how Turkey will fare relative to other emerging markets? Solomon Teague reports.
Turkey’s macro-economic picture has taken a back seat as politics has taken centre stage. Rates are not compressing as fast as had been expected due to inflation risks, while the country remains burdened with a heavy current account deficit and an inverted fixed income curve, leaving it vulnerable. But international bond issuance is healthy, as Hardeep Dhillon reports.
Turkey straddles the divide between Europe and Asia in more ways than one. Geographically it sits on the edge of Europe, with the Middle East on the other side. Culturally, it shares a religion with its eastern neighbours, but a tradition of secularism with those to the west. As capital increasingly flows eastwards, can Turkey leverage its position as the gateway between the two? Solomon Teague reports.
The moderately Islamist AKP party has divided opinions in Turkey and abroad. The party is lauded by some for succeeding where other governments have failed in implementing much needed reforms. Others criticise it for jeopardising Turkey’s secular tradition, and for not going far enough in its reforms. Solomon Teague analyses the AKP’s economic credentials.
A developing asset management business and widely acknowledged growth potential leaves Turkey's ECM window wide open in 2008. However, against a background of increased market volatility, potential candidates have been slow to join the IPO pipeline. Christopher Vellacott reports.
More and more people are looking at ways of investing without compromising their religious beliefs, and Islamic finance is the most rapidly expanding form of ethical investing in the world. Savita Iyer asks whether this will be an important growth market for Turkey.