BANKING - Global bank hub SWIFT ready to cut off Iran

www.cbsnews.com - BRUSSELS - An international banking clearinghouse crucial to Iran's oil sales said Friday that it is preparing to discontinue services to Iranian financial institutions, an unprecedented and potentially devastating blow to Tehran as the West ramps up a campaign to stop its nuclear program.
The statement by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, known as SWIFT, suggests that the European Union — under pressure from Washington — is close to approving regulations that will require the Brussels-based hub to evict Iranian institutions from its ranks. (source)

FINANCE - Turkish Bank in Spotlight for Iran Deals as Sanctions Tighten

www.wsj.com - ISTANBUL—Amid tightening U.S. and European Union sanctions against Iran, almost all of Turkey's banks have stopped handling trade deals with the Islamic Republic, leaving one Turkish lender to rake in all that business: state-owned Halkbank.

Washington passed sanctions in January threatening to penalize financial institutions dealing with Iran's central bank, forcing Turkey's private lenders to halt transactions with Tehran for fear of being frozen out of international markets. U.S. Treasury officials visited Turkey several times last year to advise financial institutions that doing business with proscribed Iranian entities runs the risk of being frozen out of the U.S. financial system. (source)

FINANCE - OIC - Turkey to follow only UN sanctions against Iran

www.worldbulletin.net - Turkey’s largest oil refinery in Tüpraş relies on Iranian crude oil, and has been refreshing agreements with Iran for decades.  - Diplomatic sources have announced that Ankara will not be affected by the new set of sanctions on Iran, announced by the EU to cut all imports of Iranian crude oil to the EU bloc, on the grounds that Turkey will follow only UN-led sanctions.

“Turkey in principle feels bound only by UN Security Council sanctions against third countries,” diplomatic sources told Cihan on Monday, shortly after the EU governments agreed that they would ban all new contracts to purchase oil from Tehran. (source)

EU - Prospects of Islamic Finance by Yves Mersch

The speech "Prospects of Islamic Finance: The View of a Central Bank in Europe" has been presented today by Governor Yves Mersch at the Islamic Finance Conference, Frankfurt, Germany.

Yves Mersch, Governor of the Banque centrale du Luxembourg, Member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank.

(Photo: Julien Becker/archive)

GENERAL - Turkey wants more cooperation in Balkans, Mid East and Caucasus, Turkish FM says

The Turkish foreign minister said on Thursday that Turkey wanted to expand its regional cooperation areas in the Balkans, Middle East and Caucasus.

Speaking at a TV program broadcast by private channel CNN Türk, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Turkey had commitment to many regions due to its geographical position.  

GENERAL - Transatlantic survey shows Turks choosing to cooperate with Mideast

According to the 2010 Transatlantic Trends public opinion survey released yesterday by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), the percentage of Turks who said Turkey should act in closest cooperation with countries in the Middle East on international matters has doubled to 20 percent from 2009 figures. Furthermore, the majority of Turks were not concerned about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, in sharp contrast with the European Union and the United States respondents, who were concerned.