In light of Turkey's EU bid and the successful IMF-led disinflation program, this book explores the evolution and performance of the Turkish banking sector. Analyzing the repercussions of overall economic structure, financial crises and political instability on its financial sector, it scrutinizes the prospects for the future of banking sectors.

Currently, Turkey's financial services industry is in an early stage of development with credit markets dominated by banking and capital markets dominated by Government securities. Longstanding macro-economic instability and inflation have discouraged investment in financial assets and crowded out funding for the private sector. The resulting lack of depth and breadth has made the financial sector in Turkey vulnerable to shocks resulting in repeated crises, and has diminished its intermediation efficiency. This study analyzes the state of development and prospects for future growth of Turkish non-bank financial institutions and capital markets. It identifies the key policy issues that should be addressed in order to develop non-bank financial institutions in Turkey. Some of the themes included in the discussion and policy recommendations are: mobilizing savings; building an institutional investor base comprising insurance companies, private pension funds, and mutual funds; developing equity markets, debt markets, and derivative markets; developing leasing, factoring and venture capital companies; and strengthening confidence in financial markets through improved corporate governance.

This book presents a detailed analysis of the Turkish banking and financial markets. The emphasis of the book is on the interrelations between competition and regulation. The author's hope is to draw attention to the close relationship between the regulatory environment and the nature of the competition in the banking and financial markets in Turkey. Also, this book looks into various aspects of the banking and financial markets and the authors discuss the relationships between regulatory environment and competition in the industry.

This volume provides a comprehensive study of Turkey’s financial transformation into one of the most dynamic, if not trouble-free, emerging capitalisms. While this financial evolution has underwritten Turkey’s dramatic economic growth, it has done so without ameliorating the persistently exploitative and unequal social structures that characterize neoliberalism today. This edited volume, written by an interdisciplinary range of political economists, critically examines Turkey’s financial transformation, contributing to debates on the nature of peripheral financialization. Eschewing economistic interpretations, The Political Economy of Financial Transformation in Turkey underscores both the quantitative significance of exponential growth in financial flows and investments, and the qualitative importance of the state’s institutional restructuring around financial imperatives. The book presents today’s reality as historically rooted. By understanding the choices made under the new Republic (from 1923 onwards), one can better locate the changes launched as a newly liberalizing society (since 1980). Likewise, the decisions made in response to Turkey’s 2001 financial crisis spurred a tectonic break in state–market–society financial relations. The waves of change have reached far and wide: from corporate strategies of accumulation and growth to small- and medium-sized enterprises’ strategies of financial survival; from how finance has penetrated the provisioning of housing to how households have become financialized. Put together, one grasps the complexity and historicity of the power of contemporary finance. One also sees that the changes made have not been class-neutral, but have entailed elevating the interests of major capital groups, particularly financial capital, above the interests of the poor and workers in Turkey. Nor are these changes constrained to its national borders, as what transpires domestically contributes to the making of a financialized world market. Through this ‘Made in Turkey’ approach the contributions in this volume thus challenge dominant understandings of financialization, which are derived from the advanced capitalisms, by sharing the specificity of emerging capitalisms such as Turkey.

Finance and banking sector has had to adopt a new customer-oriented approach and go beyond traditional practices in the face of rapid changes in technology and increasing competition. Technological development, which is the pioneer of change, brings the financial system to a new level as in every field of economy. Written in these directions, this book includes current debates in the field of banking and finance. Especially the rapid entry of blockchain technology into all areas of life has caused serious changes in corporate governance mechanisms. In this context, the content of the book answers the question of why corporate governance matters a problem for the banking sector with theoretical aspects. And at the same time, it empirically discusses measures of the potential market value effects of the blockchain systems integration into corporate governance procedures. Along with these, the banking sector, which constitutes an important part of the financial system, has become more significant after the global mortgage crisis. The evaluation of the banking sector, which is structurally different from other sectors, requires a separate approach. The content of the book draws an overall picture that can be used for banks in terms of valuation methods. Additionally, the determinants of the financial performance of banks, which are the main components of the financial system, are analysed specifically in the Turkish banking sector. On the other hand, financial problems such as portfolio optimization, which is one of the important topics of financial decisions, and its applications are examined specifically for the Turkish stock market. Approaches and new methods of optimization are tested.