EBRD says ready to increase Turkish bad loan help if asked

LONDON – Reuters

Turkey's lira and banking stocks staged a late rally on April 4 after the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said it was ready to help Turkey tackle the growing level of unpaid and problem loans in its banking sector if asked.

"The EBRD is interested to deepen its work in the non-performing loan (NPL) space in Turkey," said Arvid Tuerkner, EBRD managing director for Turkey.

The EBRD is already a shareholder in Hayat Varlık, a former Lehman Brothers subsidiary and leading non-performing loan purchasing and collection company in Turkey.

"We haven't been approached [by Turkish authorities] yet with a proposal to invest in an NPL vehicle/SPV, but would look at it, and are ready to engage, if the structure meets our commercial and sound banking requirements," Tuerkner added.

The EBRD has previously supported countries including Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Greek Cyprus to address high levels of non-performing loans.

The EBRD's offer of assistance was one of several factors helping support the lira, along with S&P Global saying that Turkey's credit rating was not currently at risk and "better than expected" reserves numbers, said Cristian Maggio, head of emerging markets strategy at TD Securities.

The Turkish central bank's net international reserves stood at 164.69 billion lira ($29.71 billion) as of March 29, it said earlier on April 4.