Turkish banks complain of ‘too strict measures’

ISTANBUL-Reuters

CİHAN Photo

Representatives from Turkish banking industry said several strict measures, which were put during extraordinary times, should be lifted during ordinary times at a meeting in Istanbul on April 9. 

“We have offered the removal of the strict (temporary) regulations, which were adopted during the extraordinary times in the Turkish economy. We strongly support the adaptation into international standards, but some stricter local regulations make our contributions to the economic growth more costly,” head of the Banks’ Association of Turkey, Hüseyin Aydın, at a press meeting of the association together with Turkey’s Financial Crime Investigation Board (MASAK). 

The government has recently put a series of measures over the sector to decrease the current account gap and to limit the consumption. In this vein, some limitations have put to limit the use of consumer loans and credit cards across the country, among other measures, including the rise in banks’ compulsory reserve ration as well as premiums to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). 

All these measures were for the sake of the banks, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said at his speech in the meeting. 

“Turkey has been at a good point in adopting and implementing macro-prudence measures and the loan volume is now in more reasonable levels… These measures are all good for the banks to make the banks much stronger,” Şimşek said.

Şimşek noted that it is impossible to maintain robust economic success without a healthy banking system, so maintaining the credibility of the system is of great importance. 

“It has recently very common to beat up, to hit the banks. This is extremely dangerous. Without a healthy banking system, we cannot maintain robust success in the economy,” he said. 

“We’ll work with the sector to make it healthier. We see that some of the burdens over the sector are resulting from brokerage activities… The problems will be solved in time,” he said. 

Şimşek said Turkish banks have very advanced systems, as many global bankers’ told him in Davos a couple of weeks ago. 

“The banks have achieved a lot in terms of maintaining a good asset base especially since 2012, despite all the geopolitical risks around the country and the fluctuations in the global markets. Amid all these negativities, the share of non-performing loans in all loans is below 3 percent,” he said.