Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.20
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Some Turkish banks, dissatisfied with the Turkish Banking Supervision Agency's decision on reducing the maturity of consumer loans and the introduction of a single limit on credit cards, are introducing new payment cards, Turkish newspaper Milliyet reported on Feb. 18.
A credit limit on these payment cards is set up to 5,000 Turkish liras with a condition of payment for 24 months.
A law on reducing the consumer loan issuance term entered into force in Turkey on February 1, 2014.
The payment terms on certain goods purchased on credit were canceled or reduced in Turkey, according to the new law.
Earlier a decision was made to establish a single limit for credit cards. However, until now a single limit amount has not been determined. As of 2013, the average monthly salary in the country amounted to 847 lira.
At present the Turkish population has 56.5 million credit cards and 96.6 million debit cards, according to the report.
The amount of annual payments on credit cards is 34.6 billion Turkish liras, according to the Turkish Banking Supervision Agency.
The report added that 30 percent of credit cards used in the country have a limit of up to 2,000 lira, ten percent up to 10,000 lira and four percent more than 20,000 Turkish lira.
Turkey's banking sector is one of the leading sectors of the country's economy. Some 49 banks are operating in the country.
Some 36 banks of the total number of banks are commercial, and 13 are investment banks.
There are three public, 12 private banks (with 100 percent Turkish capital) and 16 banks established with foreign capital in Turkey.
Some 789 bank branches were opened in 2013. Thus, the number of bank branches in Turkey amounted to 11,023, according to the Banking Association.
The official exchange rate is 2.1810 TRY/USD on Feb. 20.
Translated by NH
Edited by CN
