Financial services

Turkey's banking watchdog has approved of a banking license for the Bank of China (BOC), said Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet ?im?ek on May 3. 

Noting that the bank first applied to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) in January for a Turkish banking license, ?im?ek said the BDDK decided to give the license in its meeting on May 2. 

Labour Minister George Katrougalos’s plan to reform the social security system will mainly fall on the shoulders of low pensioners. 80 percent of the total €2.2bln measures needed for the period 2016-19 will derive from cuts in pensions and scrapping benefits for pensioners in the low bracket.

Market anxiety over the new governor of the Central Bank was somewhat dissipated by the eventual naming of Murat Çetinkaya and his first decision, according to the Bank's former chair Yavuz CaneviThe appointment of Murat Çetinkaya as the new governor of the Central Bank and his first decision to cut the interest rate by 0.50 percent was welcomed by the markets, according to Yavuz Canevi, who se

Municipal employees will stage sit-ins on Thursday at public buildings, municipal parking lots, landfills and town halls around the country to protest the government's planned pension reforms.

The social security landscape in Greece will change significantly once the bill tabled yesterday in Parliament by the Labor Ministry becomes law, as it contains reductions in pensions of over 1,170 euros per month, as well as to retirement lump sums and dividends, along with contribution hikes for workers and pensioners and permanent mechanisms for the reduction of benefits.

The draft legislation on social security and public sector pensions that has come to light provides that people planning to enter early retirement will see their pensions drastically slashed.

The World Bank and the new China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, originally seen as possible rivals, joined hands April 13 with an agreement to co-finance projects.

The Turkish government has chosen Murat Çetinkaya, a deputy Central Bank governor, to be the Bank's new governor, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmu? announced on April 11 after a cabinet meeting led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu in ?anl?urfa on April 11.

Spain's BBVA, which has a majority stake in Turkey's Garanti Bank, is looking to buy another bank in the country, BBVA chief Carlos Torres Vila has said. 

BBVA is not actively in talks as there are no banks for sale, but Turkey is a strategic market, he said. "We want to grow in Turkey. We want to acquire another lender that will bring value to Garanti."

The range of supplementary pension cuts was the main issue of the discussion between Labour Minister Giorgos Katrougalos and the representatives of the institutions after lenders’ refusal to accept any increase in insurance contributions.