Elvan Said, “We Couldn't Reach The Level We Desired”

Treasury and Finance Minister Lütfi Elvan said, “Even though important steps have been taken to ensure financial diversity, unfortunately we couldn't reach the level we desired.”

Treasury and Finance Minister Lütfi Elvan spoke at the 9th Ordinary General Assembly of the Financial Institutions Association. Elvan stated that one of the most important problems of companies is weak capital structure and difficulty in accessing external resources, and added that non-bank financial institutions should be more effective. Minister Elvan said, "Although important steps have been taken to ensure financial diversity, unfortunately we still have not reached the level we expected. Commercial banks still take the greatest weight in our financial markets." He explained that the total assets of the largest 5 banks constitute approximately 55 percent of the sector and that this is not the financial market structure they desire. Stating that various steps will be taken to increase the capacity of asset management companies in order to strengthen the asset quality in the credit market, Minister Elvan underlined that non-bank financial institutions should assume a secondary role and become an essential and complementary element of the financial sector.

Green Financing Matters

Stating that the capital markets should be considered as a serious alternative to overcome the resource shortage, Elvan said, "Our companies should try the possibilities of obtaining funds through the issuance of asset-backed securities. We hope that the non-bank financial institutions will also implement this method, which has generally been provided by our banks until now." Pointing out that green financing also offers important opportunities, Elvan stated that the low-cost funds to be obtained from these will play an important role in the development of both the bank and non-bank finance sector.