Banking in Turkey: History and Evolution

The early stages of banking and finance in Turkey were one of its brightest periods, even though it was the toughest because of lack of capital and unfavourable initial conditions. The finance and banking conception was quite rational and potential crises were eliminated through careful choices. In the following years, boom and bust conditions dominated financial services provision with a crisis in every decade under different economic policy frameworks. Since 2001, European convergence has been leading the way and one may argue that Turkish banking and finance is ready for the challenges of the 21st century, supported by fast-increasing foreign participation that has increased capital adequacy ratios.