'We hope that the outcome of this conference will leave concrete milestones and a timeline for us to integrate the financial systems,' says Faris Sharaf, the Jordanian Central Bank governor.
Turkish Central Bank Gov. Durmuş Yılmaz called on Turkish lenders to invest in the Middle East to grow their businesses, while making a significant contribution to the banking systems of the region’s countries in the meantime.
Turkish Central Bank Gov. Durmuş Yılmaz called on Turkish lenders to invest in the Middle East to grow their businesses, while making a significant contribution to the banking systems of the region’s countries in the meantime.
Speaking on the first day of the “ShamGen Banking” meeting, an event hosted by Turkey’s Central Bank to discuss opportunities among Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, Yılmaz said Turkey paved the way for cooperation for the entire region with its policy of “zero problems with neighbors.” (full story)The title “ShamGen” is an implication that points to Middle East cooperation as it compiles the name for Europe’s borderless Schengen and “Şam,” the Turkish word for Damascus.
The conference will improve banking relations between Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon and could contribute to providing a common market in the region, Yılmaz said.
During the meeting, a regional banking cooperation agreement was signed among the Banks Association of Turkey, the Syrian Central Bank, as well as Lebanon’s and Jordan’s bank associations. With the agreement, the four countries aim to build a bridge between their banking sectors and develop communication channels.
The trade volume between the developing countries has increased in recent years, Yılmaz said. “European countries’ share in Turkey’s total exports decreased to 46 percent from 56 percent, while the share of the Organization of Islam Conference countries increased to 29 percent from 13 percent.”
Speaking at the meeting, Faris Sharaf, the Jordanian Central Bank governor, said that within the ShamGen union, the important thing was to provide for the integration of the economies.
The union presently described as a financial system will also have a great impact on economic and trade relations in future, Sharaf said. “We hope that the outcome of this conference will leave concrete milestones and a timeline for us to integrate the financial systems.”
The conference aims to improve the relationship between the ShamGen and the Turkish banking sector, Albaraka Banking Group CEO Adnan Yousif told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “Turkey has a very good economy and relationship with foreign countries. Islamic banks in Turkey are growing very fast and their results are very good.”
The Arab world is experiencing quite hard times, according to Banque du Liban Gov. Riad T. Salameh. Central banks in the region have undertaken a seriously important role to maintain stability, Salameh said. “We will leave these hard days behind.”
Foreign trade between Turkey and the Arab world, which was $7 billion in 2002, has now increased to $28.8 billion, according to Marwan Awad, chairman of the Association of Banks in Jordan.
“With the ShamGen union, trade among Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon will increase,” he said. “One-fourth of Turkey’s total exports go to Arab countries. More than 2,000 Arab companies have investments in Turkey. The number of Arab tourists coming to Turkey reached 2 million last year.”
Got no time to lose, bank chief says
İşbank Chief Executive Officer Ersin Özince said that although he had been in the banking sector for more than 30 years, he had never visited Lebanon, Syria or Jordan until four years ago. Özince is also the chairman of the Banks Association of Turkey, or TBB.
Due to the similarity between the region and Turkey, investment opportunities should not be missed, Özince said, speaking at the conference. “We should not waste much more time.”
Commenting on İşbank’s attempt to open a branch in Syria, Özince said they wanted to first open a representative office and then a branch.
He said the bank was still carrying out feasibility studies. “Our priority is to open a branch right now. Maybe after the opening of a branch, we might be interested in partnerships.”
Turkey has reached the desired position in the banking sector and can be an example for other countries in the region, according to Tevfik Bilgin, chairman of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, or BDDK.
“But neither those countries nor Turkey have any concrete investments. I hope that one bank from the region will invest in Turkey and at least one bank from Turkey will invest in the region,” Bilgin said.
Source : http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=middle-eastern-lenders-discuss-union-2011-03-28 - March 28, 2011
