Turkish Banking

Last year was a good year for the Turkish economy, which has proven to be resilient against monetary readjustments that in the past would have caused problems; the present government, tied up with the upcoming elections and the EU ..... talks, still manages to master inflation rates and maintain economic growth objectives.

Due to ongoing legislative and budgetary efforts, a ..... International Monetary Fund (IMF) report and a cautious but positive Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on corporate governance were obtained, according to Paul Wouters of Bener Law Office.

Foreign direct investment is improving and on the local financial markets, several new international ..... have established themselves (amongst others, Fortis and Dexia); these firms import the required energy, knowledge and expertise, new types of financial instruments and will enhance competition and innovation.

Such ..... are much needed by the comparatively inexperienced local financial markets (both conventional and Islamic) that - sometimes also hindered by reluctant regulatory bodies - struggle to innovate.

Dubai Islamic Bank encountered a ..... in trying to acquire MNG Bank (transaction value estimated at US$160m), but Kuwait-based The International Investor (TII) succeeded in taking over Adabank (formerly owned by the UZAN group) for a total of TL45.1m (US$32m).

Adabank had been seized by the Banking Supervision and Regulation Agency (BDDK) in July 2003 as part of the Imar Bank investigations and was put up for public ..... by the Saving and Deposits Insurance Fund (TMSF).

Kuveyt Turk was in the newspapers several times last year with important Murabahah financings; it is rumoured that it will ..... its balance sheet and - depending on market conditions - could be a candidate for an IPO in 2008-2009.

In May 2006 Bank Asya conducted probably the most successful IPO in Turkish history: US$150m raised for 20% of the shares, valuing the bank at US$800m, with US$7.5bn offers, making it 50 times ......

Aside from these Participation Banks, a growing number of Islamic finance houses now have a ..... in Turkey; institutions such as Amlak Finance, Dubai Bank and the National Bank of Kuwait have established representative offices or formed partnerships in order to take an active role in the development of the sector in Turkey.

In December 2006, the Qatar-based Doha Bank joined the league by officially opening an office in Istanbul; this followed the strategic alliance between Dubai Bank and Turkey's Daruma Corporate Finance to co-operate in structuring, executing and distributing ..... compliant corporate finance and merchant banking services.