Turkish treasury Sukuk issuance and establishment of Center for Islamic Financial Studies in Istanbul
The Turkish treasury mandated HSBC, QInvest and Standard Chartered to examine the lease certificate issuance potential in the international capital markets in an announcement dated the 19th September 2013.
Subsequently, the Turkish Treasury announced on the 4th October 2013 that an international lease certificate (Sukuk) issuance in the amount of US$1.25 billion had been successfully carried out. It stated that the demand from 330 investors for the issuance was six times more than the issuance amount.
It has also been reported that the Turkish Council of Ministers has approved the agreement for the establishment of a Center of Islamic Financial Studies in Istanbul.
Banking licence granted to Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Turkey
An announcement was published in the Official Gazette dated the 24th September 2013 that the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency of Turkey (BDDK) has issued a bank operating licence for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Turkey (BTMU). It is known that the BDDK has strict requirements to issue such operating licences for new banks. BTMU met the requirement to incorporate a bank, which has Turkish lira capital amount equal to US$300 million.
BTMU was granted bank incorporation permission in Turkey by BDDK on the 20th July 2012. The bank operating licence now enables the bank to carry out banking activities in Turkey.
Shoji Nakano, CEO of BTMU, stated in July 2012 when the bank announced its plans to begin operations in Turkey, that BTMU”s entrance into the Turkish banking sector would help facilitate a growing Japanese presence in Turkey and stated that many of its expected customers were Japanese firms eager to complete in Turkey”s energy, financial and telecom industries. He also said Turkey is the only country in the region in which the bank currently intends to operate.
BTMU is the largest bank in Japan and it is one of the biggest banks in the world, operating in 40 countries with around 36,000 employees and more than 500 branches.
Ali Ceylan is a partner at Baspinar & Partners Law Firm. He can be contacted at
[email protected]
.