It was just over a year ago that Turkey tapped into the growing Islamic finance market when it issued sukuk lease certificates – Islamic securities – for $1.5bn, with a maturity of 5.5 years. According to the Turkish Treasury, the certificates attracted an order book of nearly five times the actual issue size. Now the Treasury plans to issue more certificates as part of its “strategy to broaden its investor base and diversify financing resources”.
As Islamic finance grows worldwide, its presence in Turkey – where more than 99% of the population is Muslim, but which operates as a secular country – is also spreading. All four of Turkey’s ‘participation’ banks, as Islamic banks are known in Turkey, are diversifying their product range and services, and competition is growing.
