Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Hisarcıklıoğlu attended the joint council meeting of the profession chambers in İzmir. In his speech, Hisarcıklıoğlu criticized SPK’s decision to grant permission to the İMKB for contracts for single share derivative transactions and options contracts.

Reminding the discussion to move VOB from İzmir as a part of the İstanbul Finance Center project, Hisarcıklıoğlu said that they had made great effort to open VOB and that they had Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ring the opening gong.

Hisarcıklıoğlu went on: “There was discussion of moving, however, the incident yesterday was very saddening. Perhaps you were keeping an eye on it. SPK put forth one of their decisions. We have wanted for two years to have the single share options to be processed by VOB. The SPK president, an academician himself, also stated that this was the way it should be. Today, they handed these to the İMKB. Does truth change with the change of position? Truth is the same everywhere. You could have stood up and said you were in error and make a decision as an academician.”

- “We know what is behind this”

Stating that they know very well what lies behind this decision, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Divide, conquer and rule. The real goal is to render VOB irrelevant. While, here we brainstorm for ways to integrate İMKB and VOB, the decision made by SPK yesterday has seriously damaged the integration process of the İMKB and VOB. Hopefully, SPK will revert their erroneous decision and make this right.”

Also criticizing high interest rates, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Banks are generous to the Treasury, thankless to the private sector.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, stating that Turkey had grown by 8.5% last year as a result of the private sector’s investment of 150 billion Dollars, and said, “The private sector provided 1,300,000 new jobs last year. This is a record. We have hit the brakes this year. The growth for the first quarter was 3.2%. The optimistic estimation of the end of the year growth figure is 4%. What happened to the 8.5% growth of last year to make it drop to 3.2%? This is caused by banks. This is a result of the thankless behavior of the banks.”

- Businesswomen’s council convened

Attending the İzmir Chamber of Commerce Businesswomen’s Council meeting afterwards, Hisarcıklıoğlu was requested by Council President Asuman Nardalı Tokuş to reserve at least one seat for businesswomen in the profession committees of the chambers and exchanges under TOBB.

Stating that, as TOBB, they put great importance on women entrepreneurs, Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “The reason women we put such great importance on women entrepreneurs is our desire to prosper. Even though half of the population in Turkey is made up of women, 94% of entrepreneurs are men, 6% women. We are lagging behind in the utilization of the women workforce.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, stating that Turkey is in need of new entrepreneurs, said, “Every year, we must provide employment for 700,000 new individuals. In 10 years, we will need to find employment for 1 million people every year.”
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