Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Mr. M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, President of TOBB and DEIK, in his elaboration on the Conference mentioned that İstanbul has the potential of becoming a global finance center.
Mr. Hisarcıklıoğlu said:

“ İstanbul, with its easy access to East Europe, the Balkans, the Black Sea region, Caucausus, the Middle East and North Africa and together with strong banking system and financial markets of Turkey, has the potential of becoming a global finance center. The required legal and administrative regulations together with public-private partnership might transform İstanbul into a global finance center.”

- The target of becoming a finance center and studies undertaken will be on the headings

The Conference participants will discuss and comment on the current global agenda after the crisis and the need for new finance centers after the crisis, as well as what has been done to transform İstanbul into a global finance center up to now.

The Conference will host H. E. Ali Babacan, Minister of State and Vice-Prime Minister, Mr. M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, President of TOBB and DEIK, Mrs. Suzan Sabancı Dinçer, Chairperson of Turkish – British Business Council, and Mr. Haluk Dinçer, Chairman of Turkish – American Business Council.

The panels and the panelists of the Conference are:

- “International Finance Centers in the Post-Crisis Period”: Mark Mobius, President, Templeton Asset Management; Hamid Biglari, Vice-President, Citicorp; Laura Cox, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Spencer Lake, Chairman, HSBC Global Markets; Richard Dobbs, Director, McKinsey Global Institute.

- “Istanbul, the International Finance Center: Location of Istanbul”: Erhan Usta, Deputy Secretary, State Planning Organization and the IFM Project Assistant Coordinator; Erdem Başçı, Chairman, Central Bank of Turkey; İbrahim Çanakçı, Secretary of Treasury; Vedat Akgiray, Chairman, Capital Markets Board of Turkey; Kenan Özdemir, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Tevfik Bilgin, Chairman, BDDK; Ziya Akkurt, Akbank General Manager and Chairman of the Istanbul Finance Center Committee of the Banks Association of Turkey.

- “A New Finance Center Istanbul: What to Do?”: Alberto Verme, CEO, Citi Europe, the Middle East and Africa; İbrahim Dabdoub, CEO, National Bank of Kuwait; Patrick Reagan, CEO, Aviva Plc.; V. Shankar, CEO, Standard Chartered Europe, the Middle Eat and the U.S.; Philip Alan Hourquebie, Ernst&Young Central and Southeast Europe; Domenica Siniscalco, Vice President, Morgan Stanley.

- Reviews

Suzan Sabancı Dinçer underlined the fact that following the crisis international funds have left traditional centers and started to look for new ones, which accelerated the competition between finance centers. “Within this contexy, I argue that the economic activity level of Istanbul, its dynamism, the intellectual heritage it represents and its geopolitical location makes it a bridge between the financial axis of New York, London, Tokyo and Shanghai.”
Haluk Dinçer, on the other hand, argued that Istanbul has left behind the other candidate finance centers with its dynamic economy, stable growth performance, strong financial sector and skilled labor force in this sector.
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