Banks must roll over or die

Turkish banks will have to roll over $6 billion in syndicated debt this year, according to a Turkish treasury document made available to Euromoney.

The market consensus is that first-tier banks, such as Akbank, Garanti, Is Bank and Yap¦ Kredi, will be able to roll over, albeit at higher interest rates, but life will not be so easy for medium-size and smaller banks.

“We have drawn up a list of banks and companies we believe will survive the crisis and we will do business just with them,” says a western banker whose institution is one of the top five lenders to Turkey.