Akbank recently celebrated its 65th anniversary. It was not a silver or diamond jubilee, but an occasion to reflect on the importance of such a landmark, to evaluate our recent past and to anticipate the substantial challenges ahead. The simple fact is that our history is Turkey’s history and a story of dramatic responses to equally dramatic change is inscribed in our institutional memory.
During the lifetime of the bank, Turkey has transformed itself from an overwhelmingly rural to an overwhelmingly urban society, from a closed and protected market to a member of the global economy that competes on price and quality with the world’s most sophisticated producers. And I think it is fair to say that Turkey has transformed itself from a society where government once crowded out private initiative to one where the private sector takes the lead.