Speaking on Tuesday in İzmir, where he attended the signing ceremony of a small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) loan deal between Bank Asya and the İzmir Chamber of Commerce (İZTO), Kabaca said Bank Asya exerted extra effort to extend as many loans as possible to their customers. Kabaca said they use almost all their deposits to extend loans and expect to lend support to customers particularly during times of crisis.
Mentioning criticism that banks in Turkey have been reluctant to extend loans since the emergence of the crisis, he said no one should blame banks because “every institution has to take measures so that they can stand on their own two feet during crises.” Kabaca said banks have started to ease their stringent requirements and are extending more loans to firms than they had in the past few months since the adverse impact of the crisis is slowly dispersing. Financial sector representatives in Turkey have long argued that they have failed to receive the loans they were promised prior to the crisis.
İZTO head Ekrem Demirtaş said they expected to help ailing SMEs by signing loan deals with several banks. “We have sealed our fifth deal with Bank Asya. The Turkish economy is going through serious problems, and everyone should support one another to surmount difficulties together. Companies may have problems repaying their debt, but banks should not use this as an excuse but should rather seek ways to help firms.”
