ONCE UPON A time the Turkish banking sector was exactly that – almost entirely Turkish in character. In the 1980s there were only a few foreign banks in the country’s financial services sector, which comprised a mix of state and private ownership with a collection of large universal banking institutions and small-sector specific players. Nowadays the banking scene is much more cosmopolitan, with a wide range of banks from across the globe pursuing increasingly aggressive expansion plans to take advantage of an improving economic climate and the consequent increase in the so-called bankability of Turkey’s large and fast-growing population.
International bank participation in Turkey is also being driven forward by the country’s growing political significance – poised to become the most populous country in the European Union within the next 10 years and having a strategic geographical position as a bridge between the developed markets of...
