EİB and Vakıf Katılım Sign Protocol

Vakıf Katılım Signs Protocol with EİB Vakıf Katılım signed a cooperation protocol with Aegean Exporters Associations to mobilise local potential. Under the protocol, members of Aegean Exporters Associations will be able to benefit from Vakıf Katılım's advantageous products and services and access the financing they need more easily. Member enterprises will also be able to take advantage of favourable rates for the use of Guaranteed Fund Transfer (GFT), a next-generation digital payment method that minimises the need for cash. Vakıf Katılım, bringing a fresh perspective to Islamic finance, signed a cooperation protocol with Aegean Exporters Associations. Under the protocol, members of Aegean Exporters Associations will be able to benefit from favourable rates when using Guaranteed Fund Transfer (GFT), a next-generation digital payment method that makes commercial operations more efficient and minimises the need for cash. Member enterprises will also be provided with a range of advantages including letters of credit, discounted safe deposit boxes, free EFT-money transfers via digital channels, favourable merchant point-of-sale (POS) rates, competitive insurance premiums and numerous benefits in foreign trade operations. Aegean Exporters Associations Coordinator President Jak Eskinazi, noting that the world is going through a difficult economic situation, underlined that access to financing is currently one of the biggest problems in our country. "Support from banks and financial institutions for our exporters is of great importance. For these exporters it is a real source of morale. World leaders agree that global stagnation may be on the horizon. There is growing likelihood that economies damaged by coronavirus could enter recession under the impact of the Ukraine war. If our exporters fail to calculate costs correctly in the current inflationary environment where energy and raw material prices increase daily, they may face capital erosion. Predictability is very important for exporters. In this process, we are seeing first-hand how crucial Turkish Eximbank and CBRT resources are. Since the beginning of 2022, exporters have reached a point where they cannot use rediscount credits. In addition to the increases in raw material, labour and energy prices and unfavourable developments in dollar/euro parity, we also cannot access financing. In the free market, interest rates are in the 40 per cent band. Under these conditions, our exporters have reached a point where they hesitate even to take orders. Barriers to access to financing for Turkish exporters must be removed. We want an active position to be taken in solving our logistics, raw material, energy and financing problems. Especially in the agricultural sector, the buying season is beginning in the coming days. When the product is transformed into industrial use, everyone needs access to financing," he said. Eskinazi added: "Supporting our exporters means Turkey rising to higher levels in international competition and our people living in prosperity. EİB, Turkey's first exporters association in the modern sense, represents approximately 8,000 exporting companies operating in 12 different sectors in the Aegean Region, with more than 80 years of foreign trade experience. Within our association we have 5 industrial associations and 7 agricultural associations. In 2021, Aegean Exporters Associations achieved exports of USD 16.325 billion with 26 per cent growth. EİB's exports constitute 7 per cent of Turkey's total exports of USD 225.368 billion in 2021, and 12.4 per cent of Turkey's total exports when we base ourselves on the Aegean Region's total exports. We are the second largest region after Marmara. Our associations have recorded exports exceeding USD 18 billion over the past year. We reached our target for the end of 2022 by the end of July. Our fundamental aim is to provide infrastructure and resources for our companies to achieve sustainable and profitable export growth in the 12 sectors in which they operate. As Aegean Exporters Associations, we create multiplier effects through joint initiatives to provide our companies with human resources, financial resources, physical infrastructure, business networks and information resources. We are at the most critical time when we need access to financing. At this point, we attach great importance to the cooperation protocol with Vakıf Katılım, which will offer innovative financing tools to exporters," he said. In a statement on the matter, Vakıf Katılım General Manager Osman Çelik said: "We continue our work with great responsibility so that our country can achieve sustainable economic growth and reach better levels in income distribution and regional development. We are implementing partnerships with our chambers of industry and commerce and development agencies, and we are standing alongside our SMEs and enterprises with a business partner approach to ensure their investments and production are not interrupted. Through similar cooperations we will make, we will continue to produce innovative solutions that support the national economy in many areas such as financial leasing and green energy to increase the competitiveness of all SMEs operating in the four areas we call 4i – Manufacturing, Employment, Exports and Innovation – and we will continue to facilitate access to financing for SMEs," he said. Vakıf Katılım General Manager Çelik also referred separately to GFT, Vakıf Katılım's next-generation digital payment method, and noted that they have set a precedent in the banking sector. He added that GFT brings fresh momentum to commerce, has eliminated collection problems for SMEs, and that with GFT's features of divisibility and transferability, it has added cash characteristics to time-bound receivables.