Tag: IMKB

Turkey’s Borsa Istanbul dismisses three senior staff

May 7 (Reuters) – Borsa Istanbul, Turkey’s state-run stock exchange, has dismissed three senior personnel after a restructuring eliminated their jobs, an official at the exchange told Reuters on Wednesday.

The decision to discharge two deputy general managers and the head of research at Borsa Istanbul came at a May 2 board meeting, the official told Reuters on condition his name was not used.

It was not immediately clear whether the dismissals were linked to a series of purges at other state institutions in recent weeks after a high-level corruption scandal broke late last year.

The Capital Markets Board, Turkey’s financial-markets regulator, dismissed three deputy chairmen and 11 other senior members on April 25 in a move that one source said was government retaliation for the graft investigation, which involved Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s inner circle. Members of the state banking regulator have also been removed from their posts.

“As part of the ongoing organisational restructuring at Borsa Istanbul, deputy general managers Ali Coplu and Mustafa Baltaci were relieved of their duties,” the exchange official said. “Because the research and business-development sections were merged, the research manager Orhan Erdem was also relieved of his duties.”

Borsa Istanbul declined to comment. The three who lost their jobs were not immediately available for comment.

Nasdaq OMX Group took a 5 percent stake in Borsa Istanbul, which houses the stock, gold and derivatives exchange, at the end of 2013.

Erdogan has denounced the graft probe as a plot against his rule orchestrated by his former ally Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Muslim cleric who has many supporters among Turkey’s police, judiciary and other arms of the bureaucracy. Thousands of police officers and prosecutors have been reassigned. (Reporting by Birsen Altayli; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Larry King)

via Turkey’s Borsa Istanbul dismisses three senior staff | Reuters.

May 8, 2014
Deutsche Boerse decleares its interest in Turkey’s Istanbul exchange

Germany’s Deutsche Boerse has decleared its interest in Istanbul’s renewed bourse, which is looking for international partnerships with technlogy providers, market makers and investment funds.

The newly reorganized Borsa Istanbul is looking for strategic partners in three different categories to elevate its reputation amid attention from the German bourse, which has expressed interest in the Turkish bourse’s partnership plans.

“The first of these [categories] will be selected from among the groups that will support our technological infrastructure, enhance our market access and increase our international popularity. The second will be among the market makers that could permanently provide liquidity, and the third will be among large and private investment funds that are acknowledged as opinion leaders in the global markets,” _brahim Turhan, Borsa Istanbul’s chairman and CEO, told daily Hrriyet yesterday, adding that 40.5 percent of the stock exchange would be given to strategic partners in the three categories.

Borsa Istanbul has already attracted attention from Germany following its recent reorganization.

“Turkey has a spectacularly fast-growing economy between Asia and Europe,” Deutsche Boerse Corporate Affairs Deputy President Frank Herkenhoff told Anatolia news agency yesterday.

“That’s why we are closely interested in the efforts [of Turkey] to make Istanbul an international finance center. We are interested in the plans of the Turkish government about this issue,” the Gruppe Deutsche Boerse spokesman said.

Global interest

Herkenhoff said the recent consolidation of the gold and stock exchanges under the single umbrella of Borsa Istanbul was an important step in Istanbul’s attempt to become a financial center, adding that the Deutsche Brse viewed possible strategic partnerships with the Turkish exchange favorably.

“Our Bourse has an understanding to build a successfully strategic partnership with the stock market in Istanbul,” Herkenhoff added.

The Turkish government and Borsa Istanbul have both said their next move will be to form international partnerships.

Some media reports claimed Borsa Istanbul was in talks with information technologies (IT) departments of leading global stock exchanges including the Deutsche Brse, Nasdaq, the London Stock Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange-CME and The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for technology infrastructure equipment partnerships.

After the completion of all required works by the end of 2015, bourse officials plan to offer 49 percent of the entity to the public, Turhan said.

bne/Hurriyet Daily News

April 20, 2013
Istanbul Opens New Bourse as Erdogan Seeks to Build Finance Hub

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a step toward making Turkey’s financial capital a regional hub, relegating the Istanbul Stock Exchange to history as he rang the opening bell at the new Borsa Istanbul.

The ceremony marked the first trading day at the bourse, which incorporates the 28-year-old Istanbul Stock Exchange with the Istanbul Gold Exchange and the Izmir-based derivatives exchange.

“In the U.S., the political center is Washington, D.C., while New York is the center of finance,” Erdogan said after ringing the bell with officials including Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Borsa Istanbul Chairman Ibrahim Turhan. “In Turkey, Ankara is the political center and Istanbul deserves to be the financial center.”

The exchange plans to encompass commodities and electricity trading in the near future, as a part of Erdogan’s plan to make Istanbul a regional financial center and Turkey’s economy one of the world’s 10 biggest by 2023.

“This will become an exchange in which capital market products of Turkey and the region will be traded,” Huseyin Erkan, chief executive of the World Federation of Exchanges and a former head of the Istanbul exchange, said in an interview at the ceremony. “Foreign funds that pass through Turkey through this bourse will leave a beneficial residue behind.”

Borsa IPO

Turkish equities were the second best performers worldwide last year, with the benchmark ISE National 100 Index (XU100) surging more than 60 percent in dollar terms. It has added almost 5 percent this year.

Still, the value of listed companies is lower than some competitors, with many Turkish companies preferring to stay private. The Istanbul Stock Exchange’s market capitalization was $270 billion as of January, according to the Paris-based World Federation of Exchanges. In South Africa, an economy about half the size of Turkey’s, the equivalent figure was $895.5 billion.

Ten companies started trading in Istanbul last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The biggest IPO was technology retailer Teknosa Ic & Dis Ticaret AS (TKNSA), at 98 million liras ($54 million).

It may take a few more years for Borsa Istanbul to hold its own initial public offering, and it may eventually consider merging with other exchanges, Erkan said. Turkey’s new capital markets law, which came into effect on Dec. 30, has turned the bourse into a joint stock company with capital of 423.2 million liras ($235 million).

‘Daily Game’

At the ceremony, Turkish officials pledged to encourage more firms to go public.

“Our companies still do business through loans as they carry more debt to their balance sheets,” deputy premier Babacan said. “We have to spread the culture of partnership and develop capital markets in the sake of healthy balance sheets.”

The full integration of the Turkish Derivatives Exchange into Borsa Istanbul will be completed within a month, Babacan said.

Mehmet Buyukeksi, chairman of the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly, said not all Turkish businesses have understood the function and potential of the bourse.

“It has been perceived as something similar to a daily game,” he said in an interview. “This will hopefully change.”

Buyukeksi said his association is planning joint training sessions with Borsa Istanbul for Turkey’s top 1,000 exporters, encouraging them to hold public offerings.

via Istanbul Opens New Bourse as Erdogan Seeks to Build Finance Hub – Businessweek.

April 6, 2013
“Borsa Istanbul” registered as sole exchange entity of Turkey

Founding capital for “Borsa Istanbul” is 423.23 million TL

ANKARA

Borsa Istanbul (Bourse Istanbul) is registered as sole exchange entity of Turkey on Wednesday.

Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said the main agreement for “Borsa Istanbul” was registered on April 3, disincorporating Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) and Istanbul Gold Exchange (IAB).

In a written statement Babacan stated that the New Capital Markets Law had been published in the Official Gazzette on December 30, 2012 and according to that law, “Borsa Istanbul” was established as an incorporated company.

Babacan noted that the founding capital for “Borsa Istanbul” was 423 million 234 thousand Turkish lira (TL).

He said Ibrahim Turhan would be the chairman of the board while Osman Akyuz, Mustafa Buyukabaci, Seyit Ahmet Iskin, Huseyin Kelezoglu, Isinsu Kestelli, Kamil Attila Koksal, Talat Ulussever ve Meliksah Utku would be the board members.

via “Borsa Istanbul” registered as sole exchange entity of Turkey Anadolu Agency.

April 5, 2013
Baku and Istanbul Stock Exchanges discuss cooperation perspectives

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev – APA-ECONOMICS. On 14-16 December of 2011 the chairman of the Management Board of Baku Stock Exchange Mr. Emin Aliyev and the head of the trading department of the stock exchange Mr. Vugar Namazov were on a business visit in Istanbul Stock Exchange, Istanbul, Turkey.

During the visit the representatives of BSE held meetings with the chairman & CEO of Istanbul Stock Exchange Mr. Huseyin Erkan and secretary general of Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges Mr. Mustafa Baltaci.

During the meeting the parties stressed the effectiveness of the relations between the stock exchanges of the two countries, and exchanged views on the further steps of the mutual cooperation. Within the framework of the visit the Azerbaijani delegation also met with the acting chairman of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey Mr. Emin Ozer who was informed about the State Program for the Securities Market Development for the period of 2011-2020.

It is worth to mention that BSE has Istanbul Stock Exchange as one of its shareholders and is the member of Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchange.

via APA – Baku and Istanbul Stock Exchanges discuss cooperation perspectives.

December 22, 2011
Turkey: “unstoppable” for long?

by Daniel Dombey

Whatever criticisms you can make of what one analyst labels Turkey’s “unstoppable” economy, there’s one thing the country’s economic boom is thankfully free of. It’s not an American style jobless recovery.

Quite the contrary. In the last year Turkey has created some 1.8m new jobs. Figures released on Thursday showed unemployment fell to 8.8 per cent to September, the lowest level since 2005 and down from a 2009 peak of more than 16 per cent.. On a seasonally adjusted basis, unemployment fell to 9.2 per cent, also the lowest level of recent times. But analysts are almost universal in predicting that things won’t stay quite this sweet for long.

Unstoppable it may be for the moment, but just about no one expects Turkey to keep up its current hectic pace of economic expansion – 9.6 per cent for the first nine months of this year compared with the same period in 2010.

Indeed, on Thursday Merrill Lynch added its voice to Goldman Sachs’ in warning of the risk of an imminent recession.

“With the complexity of central bank policy and the need for corporates to absorb their foreign exchange mismatches, the result could manifest itself in a recession which we do not believe is fully appreciated by the market,” Merrill said, in an apparent reference to the central bank’s sensationally complicated interest rate corridor policy and the $59bn of dollars in short term obligations held by Turkish corporates, much of which come due in the next few months.

The interest rate corridor policy involves rationing how much the central bank lends commercial banks at the benchmark rate of 5.75 per cent rather than more expensive rates of 12 and 12.5 per cent. It allows the central bank a huge amount of flexibility over rates, but has led to widespread calls, particularly from abroad, for greater transparency and predictability.

Indeed, so great is the confusion about what interest rates actually are that some bankers say it has become hard to perform an old-fashioned carry trade, and that many portfolio investors are just waiting until the benchmark rate is increased to deal with Turkey’s bloated current account deficit and rising inflation.

Still, that’s not to say there isn’t any foreign investment. Just this week, the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional moved closer to completing a deal whereby it would take a majority stake of Acibadem, a big Turkish hospital chain, through direct and indirect holdings. Since Acibadem, which runs 11 hospitals and other medical facilities, has market capitalisation of about TL2.5bn ($1.3bn), it is not a trivial deal.

So while Turkey may be headed for tougher times in coming months – and the jobs bonanza seems set to slow – its longer term growth story is still bringing investors in.

via Turkey: “unstoppable” for long? | beyondbrics | News and views on emerging markets from the Financial Times – FT.com.

December 16, 2011