"Türkiye's Participation Finance Strategy Meetings from the Real Sector Perspective" Held in Gaziantep & Kahramanmaraş

Gaziantep and Kahramanmaraş were the new stops of the "Türkiye's Participation Finance Strategy Meetings from the Real Sector Perspective" organized by the Finance Office in cooperation with Ziraat Katılım. In the cities visited, the branches of the Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (MUSIAD) hosted the organization.

Gaziantep was the second stop of the "Türkiye's Participation Finance Strategy Meetings from the Real Sector Perspective", the first of which was hosted by MUSIAD Afyonkarahisar branch in the past months. The event, hosted by MUSIAD Gaziantep and Young MUSIAD Gaziantep branch, where the opportunities that Türkiye’s participation finance strategy and ecosystem will present to the real sector and the expectations of sector representatives in the field of participation finance were discussed, was held with the wide participation of MUSIAD members.

The welcome speeches of the event held on 6 December 2022 were delivered by MUSIAD Gaziantep Branch President Fatih Muhaddis Fedaioğlu and Young MUSIAD Gaziantep Branch President Mustafa Orhan Nacar and keynote speeches given by the President of Finance Office Prof. Göksel Aşan and Ziraat Katılım Chief Executive Officer Metin Özdemir."We need to train professional human resources that can serve the field of participation finance"

Speaking at the opening of the event, Mr. Aşan said that participation finance system is one of the most sensitive issues for our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Expressing that they increased the share of the participation finance system in the financial system to 8 percent and that they did not find this sufficient, Mr. Aşan stated that as the Finance Office, they continue to work rapidly with the sector stakeholders in order to bring this share to the levels desired by our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Explaining that they are working on the development and dissemination of the participation finance system and that they have prepared the Participation Finance Strategy Document, which includes 84 action items, Mr. Aşan said, "There is no finance problem in Türkiye, there is a human resource problem. We need to train professional human resources that can serve the participation finance field. We need to promote the field especially to the young people. What is the message of Participation Finance, what it wants to say, what is its purpose, we need to explain all of them better". 

Stating that significant progress has been made in the preparations of legal infrastructure in the field of participation finance, Mr. Aşan pointed out that with the new law, participation finance will not be referred to as a bank, it will be called a participation finance institution.

Speaking at the opening of the event, Ziraat Katılım Chief Executive Officer Metin Özdemir stated that the participation finance system, which had faced obstacles in the past, has improved.

In the event, which continued with questions and answers session after the speeches, the participation finance strategy of Türkiye was evaluated with the contributions of industrialists and businessmen from Gaziantep.

The next stop of "Türkiye's Participation Finance Strategy Meetings from the Real Sector Perspective" was Kahramanmaraş.

After Gaziantep, Mr. Aşan and the accompanying delegation went to Kahramanmaraş on 7 December 2022. Firstly they met with the members of the Young MUSIAD Kahramanmaraş branch in the morning, and then with the members of the MUSIAD Kahramanmaraş branch in the evening.

70 young businessmen attended the event held in the morning, hosted by the Young MUSIAD Kahramanmaraş branch. The welcome speeches of the event were made by MUSIAD Kahramanmaraş Branch President Serdar Salih Çiçekçi and Young MUSIAD Kahramanmaraş Branch President Harun Kılıç and the keynote speeches were given by the President of Finance Office Prof. Göksel Aşan and Ziraat Katılım Chief Executive Officer Metin Özdemir.

The fourth of "Türkiye's Participation Finance Strategy Meetings from the Real Sector Perspective" was hosted by the MUSIAD Kahramanmaraş branch with the wide participation of MUSIAD members. While the welcome speech of the event made by MUSIAD Kahramanmaraş Branch President Serdar Salih Çiçekçi, the keynote speeches were given by Mr. Aşan, Mr.Özdemir and Kahramanmaraş Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Mustafa Buluntu.

"We will have an independent law only on participation finance"

Giving the keynote speech of the meeting hosted by MUSIAD Kahramanmaraş, Mr. Aşan said, "We will have an independent law only on participation finance. So we will have a strong legal infrastructure for the needs of the sector".

Stating that their aim is to increase the share of participation finance in the financial system, Mr. Aşan pointing out that it will not be easy to achieve this and added "Of course, this is a difficult process, we are talking about a 100-year history. During this 100-year period, all our sectors have grown only with conventional banking. In the last 20 years, interest-free finance alternatives have emerged. It is not easy to reverse the intertwined, rooted structure in a short time but the more participation finance can increase its share in the financial system, the closer we will be to this goal".

Explaining that the public has some duties to make progress in participation finance, Mr. Asan said:

"The place of the participation finance system in the current financial system does not overlap with our culture, value, geography, location and history. The administrative and legal infrastructure of participation finance is behind what it should be. We have a long way to go there. Participation finance is currently below its potential. We are rapidly continuing our efforts to bring participation finance to the place it deserves with the Participation Finance Strategy Document that we shared with the public recently. There are 84 action items in our Strategy Document. We will follow each of these action items one by one in the coming period. Our preparations for the law in the field of participation finance continue. We will have an independent law on participation finance, so we will have a strong legal infrastructure for the needs of the sector".

Mr. Aşan pointed out that they expect the support of MUSIAD members in achieving the goals of participation finance and emphasized that MUSIAD members are one of the most important stakeholders in this regard.

Ziraat Katılım Chief Executive Officer Mr. Özdemir, who gave the keynote speech within the scope of the event, stated that the finance sector suffered many problems before the 2000s, and together with the administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the sector’s needs and problems were paved with legislation and regulations.

In the event, which continued with questions and answers session after the welcome and keynote speeches, the participation finance strategy of Türkiye was evaluated with the contributions of industrialists and businessmen from Kahramanmaraş.