Gulf capital hits $4.3 bln

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

The assets of Arab banks in Turkish lenders stands at around $24 billion at the end of 2011, equal to a 3.5 percent share in the sector, data show.

Arab portfolio investments in Turkey have reached $4.3 billion from a relatively small $132 million at the end of 2011, the chairman of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB) has said.

“$132 million is really nothing,” İbrahim Turhan said at the Turkish Arab Capital Markets Forum in Istanbul yesterday, adding that the recent increase was “very surprising.”

Exports to Arab regions constituted 30 percent of Turkey’s overall foreign sales and Turhan noted that the parties still had a long way to go in terms of financial services.

According to recent data by the Turkish Banks Association (TBB), the assets of Arab banks in Turkish lenders stood at around $24 billion at the end of 2011, equal to a 3.5 percent share in the sector.

3 percent of bourse

The share of Arab portfolio investments in capital markets was limited to 3 percent, the bourse chairman said. “This means that we should work on the issue.”

The İMKB, the eighth largest member of the International Stock Exchange Association (ISEA) in terms of total liquidity, has a $300 billion market value. This refers to some 35 percent of Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP), Turhan also said. The annual revenues of the bourse stand at $2.5 trillion.

The chairman noted that the bourse has finalized cooperation deals with stock exchanges in seven cities: Masqad, Abu Dhabi, Damascus, Casablanca, Manama, Cairo and Tunis. Turhan was set to sign a similar deal with the Libyan bourse later in the day.

Commenting on the development of Islamic finances, Turhan said there were sharia papers for 50 companies from 19 countries party to the Organization of Islamic Development.