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[1/2] An employee walks past the logo of LG Energy Solution at its office building in Seoul, South Korea, November 23, 2021. The three companies signed a non-binding agreement in February to form a joint venture to create one of Europe's biggest electric vehicle (EV) battery cell facilities near Turkey's capital Ankara. "Considering the current pace of electric vehicle adoption, the timing is not appropriate for a battery cell investment," Koc Holding said in a statement to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP). "Ford and Koc Holding will remain committed to support electric vehicle production at Ford Otosan's (FROTO.IS) Kocaeli Plant and will evaluate potential battery cell investments in the future in line with the dynamics of the electric vehicle market," it said. "LG Energy Solution and Ford are working together on a plan to support battery cell production for this EV from LG Energy Solution’s existing operations, extending the companies’ long-standing business relationship," LGES said in a statement.

Persons: Kim Hong, Koc, Ford, LGES, Ebru Tuncay, Heekyong Yang, Huseyin Hayatsever, Chizu Nomiyama, Diane Craft Organizations: LG Energy, REUTERS, Rights, Turkey's Koc, Ford, Koc Holding, General Motors, LG, EV, EVs, Thomson Locations: Seoul, South Korea, Rights ANKARA, SEOUL, Korean, Turkey's, Ankara, China, Europe, United States, Poland, Indonesia, Canada

According to one of the bankers, 20% of the KKM accounts that were initially converted to lira from foreign currency were ended in August. Of those, around two thirds were converted back to forex while the rest moved into regular lira accounts, according to three bankers. But they said depositors were cautious about moving funds into lira deposit accounts just yet given expectations that deposit rates will rise more. More will shift into plain lira accounts - rather than dollars - as that happens, they added. But that trend halted in August at a peak of more than $15.7 billion as more KKM accounts were shuttered.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Tayyip Erdogan, depositor, Ebru Tuncay, Daren Butler, Jonathan Spicer, Nick Macfie Organizations: Lira, REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Ankara, ISTANBUL, forex, KKM

☆ Turkey curbs credit card use for foreign travel, in blow to sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Ceyda Caglayan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISTANBUL, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Turkey's banking watchdog has stopped allowing credit card payments by instalment for foreign travel, such as flights, travel agency fees and accommodation, in a step seen dealing a blow to foreign travel operators. The move, which hit airline shares and was seen as curbing foreign currency outflows, was one of two measures announced by the BDDK watchdog late on Monday, which it said were among coordinated steps to strengthen financial stability. "The logic (of the step) is 'citizens shouldn't go abroad and spend foreign currency'," he said, adding that the foreign travel sector was also being hit by increasing difficulties faced by Turks in securing tourist visas. The credit card move also had an impact on airline share prices, with Turkish Airlines (THYAO.IS) dipping 1.3% and the airline Pegasus (PGSUS.IS) dropping 2.3%. ($1 = 26.9618 liras)Reporting by Ebru Tuncay; Editing by Daren Butler and Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Cem Polatoglu, shouldn't, Ebru Tuncay, Daren Butler, Emelia Organizations: Turks, Turkish, Turkish Airlines, Pegasus, Thomson Locations: ISTANBUL

With the use of central bank reserves to protect the lira’s value before the election, reserves fell to a historical low in early June, with net reserves at minus $5.7 billion. Hence, there is no use of foreign exchange reserves and a period of increasing reserves has started," he added. His comments echoed the view of bankers that the central bank had "completely stopped" using its reserves. CENTRAL BANK MEASURESUnder new central bank steps announced at the weekend, the securities maintenance ratio that banks are required to allocate to their foreign currency deposit was reduced to 5% from 10%. The new regulation said banks whose lira deposits are less than 57% of total deposits will have to hold an additional seven percentage points of securities, compared to the previous seven additional points applied to banks that held less than 60% lira deposits.

Persons: Murad Sezer, Lira, Tayyip Erdogan, Hafize Gaye Erkan, Enver Erkan, Daren Butler, Canan, Jonathan Spicer, Emelia Sithole Organizations: REUTERS, Securities, Bankers, Thomson Locations: Istanbul, Turkey, ANKARA, backtrack, Turkish

Sources said some factoring companies were giving loans with a 70% interest rate, up from 30% in February. For the first time, the rates offered by banks and factoring firms are aligned," he said. Corporates which are not able to get loans from banks are now borrowing from factoring firms with high level of interest, said another banking source. The source said factoring companies and banks can use a funding facility at the Istanbul Settlement and Custody Bank (Takasbank) and these loans' interest rates are around 45%. "Some brokerage houses either trimmed down the leverage ratio for their clients or closed their positions due to the increasing interest rates at Takasbank.

☆ Turkey's Getir denies reports of deal that would roughly halve valuation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, April 20 (Reuters) - Turkey's fast delivery company Getir denied on Thursday reports of a deal that values it at $6.5 billion, roughly half of its valuation last year, adding that it is always in talks with investors for new funding. "Recent rumors claiming that Getir has as of now raised $500 million at a valuation of $6.5 billion is incorrect," the company said in a statement. News website Insider reported on Wednesday that Getir raised $300 million from Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala, citing industry sources. The deal would cut the company's valuation almost in half. In March last year, Getir closed a $768 million funding round led by Mubadala that valued the company at around $12 billion.

Foreign investors have held talks with the government and opposition parties and public and private sector companies, one senior government official said. Erdogan has said former economic tsar Mehmet Simsek, well respected by international investors, was coordinating work on economic policies. While the UAE and Saudi Arabia were eyeing energy investments, Western investors were looking more at fintech and digital, he said. An Ankara consultancy company executive said expectations of economic policy changes were paving the way for investment. "In any case, the expectation is that Turkey will turn to more predictable and orthodox economic policies."

☆ Turkish budget deficit widens in March after quakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The primary balance, which excludes interest payments, logged a deficit of 2.15 billion lira in March, it said, bringing the total in the first three months to 149.37 billion lira. The budget deficit widened sharply after the earthquakes struck southern Turkey in February at a time when President Tayyip Erdogan was already facing major economic challenges. In February, the central government's budget deficit stood at 170.56 billion lira and the cumulative figure for the first two months of the year was 202.8 billion lira. Economists reckon government spending on rebuilding and aid efforts could lift the ratio of budget deficit to GDP to above 5% this year, up from Ankara's forecast last September of 3.5%. It had made a transfer of 5.6 billion lira to the areas a month earlier.

[1/4] Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied by his wife Emine Erdogan, greets the audience during a meeting of his ruling AK Party to announce the party's election manifesto ahead of the May 14 elections, in Ankara, Turkey April 11, 2023. Erdogan is facing the biggest political challenge since his AK Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, with polls showing support sagging in recent years after unorthodox economic policies hobbled the lira currency and sent inflation surging. Erdogan said last week a team was working on strengthening economic policies under the coordination of former economic tsar Mehmet Simsek, who is well respected by international investors. In the presidential election next month, Erdogan will be up against the main opposition alliance candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. On foreign policy, Erdogan said the AKP would continue normalizing relations in the region and aim to build an "axis of Turkey".

☆ Turkey's Ziraat bank finalises $1.3 bln syndicated loan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

ISTANBUL, April 7 (Reuters) - Turkey's Ziraat Bank has finalised a $1.3 billion, 367-day syndicated loan in two tranches of $423 million and 779 million euros ($850.4 million), it said on Friday. It said the loan was coordinated by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC and Emirates NBD Capital. ($1 = 0.9161 euros)Reporting by Ebru Tuncay Writing by Daren Butler Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

ISTANBUL, March 24 (Reuters) - Scores of foreign investors are returning to Istanbul and Ankara after years in the cold for a flurry of meetings to understand whether Turkish elections could bring a tidal change for its economy and financial markets. President Tayyip Erdogan's unorthodox policy approach, including aggressive rate cuts in the face of soaring inflation, left the economy and markets heavily state-managed and spurred an exodus of foreign investors over the last five years. Investors seek to understand "who will win, who will hold key positions and what the programme will be." Wall Street bank Citi said it held two days of meetings in Istanbul earlier this month for its bond and equity investors. "It may be a good opportunity to rethink Turkey's currently significant 'underweight' positioning among peer markets," the investor said.

Erdogan introduced a "new economic model" in 2021 that prioritises growth, investment and exports and is aimed at flipping Turkey's persistent trade deficits, a major component of the current account. "We will give significant support to Turkey's economic model. For that reason we want to be strong in capital terms," Cakar said in an interview conducted late last month. "There is no clear figure yet for the capital increase of state banks. State banks have supported the economy with low-cost financing for the last few years, increasing their dominance in the financial sector and their capital needs.

☆ Turkey announces cheaper mortgages for mid-income Turks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ANKARA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Mortgages with lower rates and longer maturities will be offered to middle income Turks looking to buy new housing, Turkish Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said on Wednesday. "We prepared 'my new home program' for middle income citizens with advantegous rates, three-year finance ministry support in payments and a household income-based payment plan," Nebati said. The loans with favourable rates will be extended to new housing, before, during or after construction, Nebati also said. Contractors that promise to build housing will also have credit guarantee fund-backed access to financing of some 25 billion Turkish lira, Nebati added. ($1 = 18.7390 liras)Reporting by Ebru Tuncay and Ezgi Erkoyun; editing by Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Turkish 2022 trade deficit leaps 138% to $110.2 billion -ministry
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

ISTANBUL, Jan 2 (Reuters) - The Turkish trade deficit widened 138.4% from the previous year to $110.19 billion in 2022, the Trade Ministry said on Monday, with exports rising 12.9% to $254.2 billion and imports jumping 34.3% to $364.4 billion. In December, the trade deficit widened 52% from a year earlier to $10.381 billion, with exports up 3.1% to $22.92 billion and imports rising 14.6% to $33.30 billion. Reporting by Daren Butler and Ebru Tuncay; Editing by Ece ToksabayOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Turkey's exports hit record $254 bln in 2022 -Erdogan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

ISTANBUL, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Turkey's exports rose 12.9% to $254.2 billion last year, the country's highest level ever, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Speaking at an event, Erdogan said exports to the European Union increased by 12% in 2022, while some 10,000 companies completed their first exports in the same period. Reporting by Daren Butler and Ebru Tuncay; Editing by Jonathan SpicerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

ISTANBUL, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Several big Turkish banks want to issue dividends to shareholders after posting record profits in 2022 and the country's BDDK banking watchdog is considering the request, three banking sources familiar with the issue said. Each year the BDDK makes recommendations regarding banks' profit distribution. In 2021, dividends were up to 10% of lenders' net profits, and in previous years the BDDK made recommendations for profits to be added to capital. One source said some banks, especially private ones, had sent requests to the BDDK for clearance to distribute profits and that the watchdog was evaluating them. Another banking source said the BDDK's general approach to sector profits was: "Don't distribute it, add it to capital."

☆ Turkish bankers fear regulatory burden will reverse profit boom
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Ebru Tuncay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Bankers forecast a very tough 2023 and beyond for earnings and lending, several of them told Reuters. Their share of outstanding loans has fallen to 29%, compared to 46% for state lenders that have increased their dominance in recent years. Other bankers said the regulations and rising costs have interfered with basic credit extension and could lead banks to cut operational costs. Authorities "tied the fate of the banking sector to state lenders with the recent regulations. Still, other sources close to the state lenders said these concerns are exaggerated given exporters, the focus of Erdogan's programme, are easily getting credit.

Many rules require banks to bulk up on treasuries. Two other bankers said the executives expressed concerns over longer-term "systemic risks" due to the level of their bond holdings. Parliament, dominated by the AKP and nationalist allies, is debating next year's budget including record spending of 258.4 billion lira on social aid. VULNERABLE TO REVERSALThe series of rules increased the central bank's authority over the government debt, credit and loan markets, bankers say. Akbank's (AKBNK.IS) Q3 net profit was 17.07 billion lira versus 3.21 billion lira year ago.

☆ Turkish competition board fines Meta Platforms $18.6 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Turkey's competition authority has fined Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) 346.72 million lira ($18.63 million) for breaking competition law, it said on Wednesday. Turkey's competition authority said Meta must act to reinstate competition in these markets and prepare annual reports about the steps it will take for the next five years, the authority said. Social media companies have been a focus of attention in Turkey, which adopted a law last week that would jail journalists and social media users for up to three years for spreading "disinformation". Analysts have said social media companies are unlikely to abide in full by the law that requires them to remove "disinformation" content and share user data with authorities. ($1 = 18.6080 liras)Reporting by Ebru Tuncay; Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Daren Butler and Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Meta Platforms disagrees with Turkish competition board fine
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

ISTANBUL, Oct 26 (Reuters) - A spokesperson for Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) said on Wednesday that they did not agree with the findings of Turkish competition authority, after it fined the company 346.7 million lira ($18.64 million). The spokesperson said Meta Platforms protect user privacy and provide people with transparency and control over their data, adding that the company "will consider all options." ($1 = 18.6037 liras)Reporting by Ebru Tuncay Editing by Ece ToksabayOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Turkey's state banks suspend use of Russian Mir payment system -finance minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Can Sezer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISTANBUL, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Turkey's three state banks have suspended the use of the Russian Mir payment system, Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati told Reuters on Thursday. Two private banks, Isbank and Denizbank, suspended their use of the Mir system last week after Washington expanded its sanctions on Russia, including targeting the entity that runs the payment system. The two other state banks, Halkbank and Vakifbank, have not commented on the issue. NATO member Ankara opposes Western sanctions on Russia and has close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, its Black Sea neighbours. The Kremlin on Wednesday said Turkish state banks that have stopped using Russia's Mir bank cards are clearly under unprecedented U.S. pressure and the threat of secondary sanctions.

☆ Turkey adjusts banks' risk metrics in derivatives market
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISTANBUL, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Turkey amended the risk parameters used in the transaction collateral calculations for banks' underlying assets in the derivatives market, the clearance institution Takasbank said on Tuesday. Takasbank said the new parameters, which are set taking into account current market conditions, will take effect as of Sept. 21. The move came after a decline in Borsa Istanbul led by banking shares (.XBANK) over the last week, following a sharp rise since July. "Shares in public banks, which had been on the rise for two weeks, started to decline. Analysts said an extraordinary meeting between regulators and brokerages took place late on Monday, following the extraordinary move in shares.

REUTERS/Murad SezerISTANBUL, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Turkish lenders Isbank and Denizbank have suspended use of Russian payment system Mir, the banks said on Monday, following a U.S. crackdown on those accused of helping Moscow skirt sanctions over the war in Ukraine. The suspensions by two of the five Turkish banks that had been using Mir reflect their effort to avoid the financial cross-fire between the West and Russia, as the Turkish government takes a balanced diplomatic stance. In April, he said Russian tourists - critical to Turkey's beleaguered economy - could easily make payments since the Mir system was growing among Turkey's banks. One banker said worries that so-called secondary sanctions could target Turkish banks or firms affected markets. The expanded U.S. sanctions last week targeted the chief executive of the Bank of Russia's National Card Payment System (NSPK), which runs Mir.

☆ Turkey's Denizbank says it's unable to provide service in Russia's Mir system
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

The logo of Turkey's Denizbank is seen at the company's headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey March 2, 2016. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/File PhotoISTANBUL, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Turkish lender Denizbank said on Monday it was not able to provide service in the Russian payments system Mir, becoming the second lender to suspend such business after a U.S. crackdown on those accused of helping Moscow skirt sanctions. "We are currenly unable to provide service," a bank spokesperson said when asked about Mir. Earlier on Monday, Isbank said it suspended use of the payments system as it evaluated the U.S. Treasury's announcement last week of sanctions on the head of the Russian entity runnig Mir. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Ebru Tuncay; Writing by Jonathan SpicerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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