BANKING - Turkish banks eye their customers' $270b pot of gold

www.gulfnews.com - Istanbul: Turkish banks are seeking to boost the lowest savings rate among major emerging markets and allay a concern of credit rating companies by persuading customers to deposit gold.

Turks have about 5,000 tonnes of gold "stashed under their pillows", Ozcan Halac, the head of the Istanbul Gold Exchange, said in a Bloomberg interview on March 7. That's equivalent to $270 billion (Dh991.7 billion), or more than a third of Turkey's $772 billion economy.

 Akbank TAS, the lender part-owned by Citigroup Inc, said on April 5 it was offering a new gold deposit account to spur savings. (source)