www.todayszaman.com - Bank Asya Marketing Manager Murat Demir announced in a meeting over the weekend that the financial institution will start handing out more loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), for a total of TL 2.5 billion in 2012.
Bank Asya, a leading participation bank in Turkey, aims to support the financing of SMEs with these loans. Emphasizing that SME loans make up 34 percent of all loans offered by the bank, Demir said they have 170,000 customers, and the majority of loans are given to the construction, manufacturing, health, food and metal sectors. Demir explained that businesses usually get medium-term loans and use them for raw materials, intermediate goods and other products. He also said businesses in the Marmara, Central Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia regions have mostly applied for these loans. (source)
Noting the decreasing of trade relations in the world and the increasing of interest rates as a result of the global economic slowdown, Demir stated: “This negatively impacted the financial structures of SMEs in 2010 and 2011 by causing difficulties in making payments to banks. However, we did not withdraw our support from the SMEs.” He said there are 1.5 million borrowers throughout the country as of January 2012, and the credit risk of these loans totals TL 163 billion. At the same time, there are also 166,000 borrowers who paid TL 5.3 billion after legal proceedings. With a decline in the number of businesses that have paid off their loans on time, the follow-up costs reached 5 percent a couple of years back. “The positive developments in markets in the last year have caused cash flow to go back to its regular state and lowered follow-up costs,” Demir said. “We can see that by the end of January 2012, follow-up costs are 3.2 percent. This cost is only 2 percent at Bank Asya.”
Demir said banks provide a limited amount of services to SMEs and pointed out, “These businesses are looking for a partner who will stick with the business along the way, support their expansion and provide consulting services.” Underlining that Bank Asya knows the importance of SMEs, he commented, “We analyze customer profiles and offer new services depending on the needs of firms or businesses, and we will continue with this approach in order to become the trusted consultant for SMEs and to extend our relations into the long term.” He said that under the Çobanyıldızı approach, which is Bank Asya's way of treating SMEs, “we will continue to lead the way for these businesses by directing their activities and offering loans in different categories to grow their businesses and help them reach out to the world.”
Bank Asya recorded a net profit of TL 216 million last year, when its assets exceeded TL 16 billion and the volume of loans it extended to businesses and individuals was TL 13 billion. It employs some 4,500 people in 200 branches across the country.
Source : http://www.todayszaman.com/news-276762-bank-asya-to-offer-sme-loans-worth-tl-25-bln.html - April 8, 2012
