Istanbul Finance Center ‘to help draw investment’

ISTANBUL

Istanbul Finance Center (IFM) will enhance Türkiye’s potential of attracting foreign capital inflow, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on April 17.

“IFM will make serious contributions to our country’s economy with the start of domestic and foreign financial institutions operating in the region. It will create a new financial ecosystem in Istanbul, the meeting point of three continents,” Erdoğan said at the opening ceremony of the banks’ phase of the Istanbul Financial Center.

“Getting together our institutions is the first step in the formation of the ecosystem. IFM will also increase our investment attracting potential by facilitating international capital flow,” he added.

Erdoğan said the Istanbul Finance Center will take the country to a higher league in finance.

“The Istanbul Financial Center is a visionary project developed to strengthen Türkiye’s position in the world economy and to make our country a regional and, in the future, a global financial center,” he stated.

Citing the old financial centers such as New York, London and Frankfurt, as well as new ones such as Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong, the president said, “The center of gravity of global finance is increasingly shifting from west to east. In this context, the increasing trade competition between Asia and Europe and the geopolitical position of our country open new windows of opportunity for Istanbul.”

Erdoğan said that the government has taken the targets one step higher with the Turkish Economic Model, which he said is based on developing Türkiye through investment, employment, production, exports and current account surplus.

The president recalled that a few years after his government announced its intention to move the state banks and financial institutions to Istanbul, some circles objected to the idea. “Because they do not know about our ancient civilization and history. They do not know what happened in the history of finance in Türkiye,” Erdoğan stated.

“We believe that Istanbul, which has historically served both as a geographical and commercial bridge between east and west, has the potential to establish the same link between financial markets today,” Erdoğan said.

“We said, ‘I hope we will make Istanbul one of the world’s leading financial centers,’ and we did. Now we have created the physical conditions of this work,” he noted.

The construction of the project started in 2013 after the government decided to move the leading institutions of the country, including the Central Bank, public banks and stock exchange, to Istanbul, he said, adding, “Thus, we have realized the most prestigious project of our country and the world with a total investment value of 65 billion Turkish Liras.”