Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The Access to Finance Consultation Meeting was hosted by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu at the TOBB Twin Towers Conference Hall with the participation of Alpaslan Çakar, President of the Banks Association of Turkey and General Manager of Ziraat Bank, Osman Arslan, General Manager of Halkbank, and Abdi Serdar Üstünsalih, General Manager of Vakıfbank.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that in order to continue to grow the economy, it is necessary to ensure that companies have access to finance with appropriate conditions, and that this situation has become difficult in the recent period and that complaints from every province and district in this direction have increased.

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that the biggest problem is experienced by small and medium-sized enterprises that are most sensitive to finance, and that in addition to the increase in loan rates, credit limits are insufficient and there are problems in use.

- Credit need is higher than in the past

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that companies could not get the loans they demanded from banks, and that very high interest rates were applied to those who could.

Hisarcıklıoğlu pointed out that the need for loans for investment and working capital has increased significantly compared to past periods due to high inflation and cost increases, and said, “Working capital loans have become critical for SMEs to continue their activities. Therefore, taking into account the increasing need for working capital, access to credit should be facilitated. It is expected that our banks will continue to provide loans to our real sector on favorable terms, taking into account the funding costs. Thus, our real sector will continue to make the maximum contribution to investment, production, exports and employment by overcoming all kinds of negative conditions with the least damage.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, emphasizing that they have seen how important and valuable public banks are in terms of the real sector, especially during the Covid-19 outbreak, stated that 3 public banks stand by the companies in the most troubled processes and support them to survive.

Stating that they expect the same approach from all banks in this critical period, Hisarcıklıoğlu said:

“We are in a period where we all need to work selflessly for our country and act accordingly. We also ask our banks to act with this awareness without allocating the sacrifice part of the business to the real sector and the profit part to themselves. I hope that today's meeting will be an important opportunity to better understand each other mutually, especially to reduce the difficulties experienced in accessing loans.”

- UMT President and Ziraat Bank General Manager Alpaslan Çakar

Alpaslan Çakar, President of the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB) and General Manager of Ziraat Bank, stated in his speech that they will continue to stand by each customer who produces, invests and creates employment by taking into account the environment and climate, and said, “Our country has to grow, and we have the power, capability and resources to finance that growth.”

In his speech at the opening of the TOBB Access to Finance Consultation Meeting, Çakar gave information about the balance sheet and credit disbursements of the banking sector.

Stating that the asset size of the sector has reached 12 trillion TL, Çakar stated that the basis of funding consists of deposit equity.

Çakar reported that the total equity of banks is 1.3 trillion liras, a total of 7.5 trillion liras are collected from real and legal persons as deposits, and non-deposit resources are 2.8 trillion liras.

- “As of July, we extended 12 times more loans to companies compared to the same period last year”

Stating that the total amount of loans extended by the banking sector as of July 30 last year was 137 billion liras, Çakar said that 45 billion liras of the 70 billion liras of loans extended to companies were extended to large enterprises and 25 billion liras to SMEs.

Stating that 1.1 trillion liras of loans were extended in the same period this year, Çakar said, “The loan extended to companies was 901 billion liras, and last year this figure was 70 billion liras. We have extended loans at a rate of 12 times as much as last year.”

Çakar said that they are aware that inflation has increased this figure, but it is also important that 901 billion liras of credit is extended to the real sector.

- “We will continue to stand by each of our customers who produce, invest and create employment”

Çakar stated that the share of loans extended by individuals was 23 percent at the end of last year and the share of loans used by companies was 77 percent, adding that they now give 19 percent of loans to individuals and 81 percent to companies.

Çakar emphasized that the structuring mechanism works very well for companies that have difficulty in paying their debts, noting that a loan of 343 billion liras was structured, of which 313 billion liras were closely monitored and 30 billion liras were non-performing loans.

Stating that the share of restructured loans in total loans is 6 percent, Çakar said that the ratio of provisions allocated for non-performing loans is around 79 percent. Cakar said:

“Our balance sheet structures are solid and we are in a position to support you in the coming period. On behalf of the entire banking sector, I can easily say, “There is no environment where you lose and I win. As long as you win, I can win, and as long as your balance sheets are good, my balance sheet can be good.” The real sector and the financial sector have to cooperate and act together. Economic management, the real sector and the financial sector, we have to complement each other. This is how we act, and we will continue to act like this in the coming period. The main thing is that the balance sheet of the country is functioning healthily, and as long as the balance sheet of the country is healthy, the balance sheet of all of us will continue to function correctly. We will continue to stand by each of our customers who produce, invest and create employment by taking into account the environment and climate. Our country has to grow, and we have the power, the capability, the funding, and the resources to finance that growth. Don't hesitate to do so.”

The meeting continued closed to the press after the opening speeches.