Bank of China seeks to expand into Turkey

9/11/2015 5:05:32 AM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Bank of China plans to seek approval to expand its operations in Turkey highlighting efforts by the two countries to boost business ties according to sources familiar with negotitations.

The move by China's fourth biggest commercial bank comes as another Chinese lenderthe Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) took over a majority stake in Tekstilbank in early 2015 to become the first Chinese bank operating in Turkey.

Officials from the Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency and Bank of China executivesincluding the agency's headMehmet Ali Akbenand Bank of China Vice President Gao Ying Xin met on Thursday to discuss the legalformalities of the plan.

“The Chinese bank will apply to obtain a license in the forthcoming days and will start to operate next year in Turkey” a sourcesaid.

It was not clear how much capital the bank is seeking to invest although Ankara requires a minimum of $300 million in registered capital.

Turkey is an emerging economy with a well-regulated banking system. Investors from Japan and China have long been looking at investment opportunities in the Turkish financial system especially the banking sector with hopes of higher rates of return than in developed markets.

The country's growth rate in the second quarter 2015stood at 3.8 percentthe Turkish Statistical Institute reported Thursday.

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