FINANCE - Bank Asya to offer SME loans worth TL 2.5 bln

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)