Turkey: New hope for corporate bonds

Turkish regulators have eased issuance criteria in an attempt to breathe some life into the country’s moribund corporate bond market. At the end of January the Capital Markets Board (SPK) slashed the red tape governing the structuring and timing of corporate bond issuance as fears grew that Turkish corporates would face growing difficulties in rolling over or securing fresh debt in the international syndicated loan markets, which in recent years have been the traditional source of funding for many of the country’s firms.