CAN THE TURKS REVIVE THEIR CAPITAL MARKETS?
In Istanbul, the commercial and financial hub of the Turkish
Republic, the locals have a saying: while the capital, Ankara, proposes,
Istanbul interprets -- in its own way. This year, if the bankers of
Istanbul have their way, the Turkish capital market will get the missing
ingredient that many believe has impeded a more active market -- the
development of a large, liquid money market with the kind of instruments
and innovations now much is vogue in the mainstream of financial
development in other European centres.
"A capital market cannot work unless you have liquid money
markets," said Vural Akisik, managing director of Interbank,
Turkey's International Bank for industry and commerce. Akisik,
together with bankers from Koc American Bank, Citibank, Chase Manhattan
Bank and Manufacturers Hanover Bank, have held informal meetings about
starting a Turkish lira commercial paper programme. They feel they have
a good chance of persuading...
