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The partnership agreement between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Borsa İstanbul was signed with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Mehmet Şimşek.
Member of the Parliament, Izmir, from the Justice and Development Party İbrahim Turhan participated in the panel entitled “Borsa İstanbul’s Global Journey on its 142nd Anniversary”.
Borsa İstanbul’s closing bell rang simultaneously with Nasdaq for BISTECH “Transformation through Technology Program”, launched on November 30.
Having entered into important strategic partnerships as part of its vision to make Istanbul a leading financial center of its region as well as globally, Borsa İstanbul signed a partnership agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Previously, Borsa İstanbul signed a term Sheet with the EBRD. Borsa İstanbul CEO Tuncay Dinç and EBRD First Vice President Phil Bennett signed the agreement in a ceremony in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Mehmet Şimşek. At the ceremony, Tuncay Dinç presented a symbolic Strategic Partnership Share of Borsa İstanbul to Phil Bennett. Mr. Bennett presented gifts to Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Mehmet Şimşek and Member of the Parliament, Izmir, from the Justice and Development Party İbrahim Turhan for their support and cooperation.
In his speech following the signing ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Mehmet Şimşek said: “We are here to celebrate the beginning of the strategic partnership between Borsa İstanbul and the EBRD. I am sure this is going to be a highly beneficial partnership. I would like to thank Borsa İstanbul’s management and the EBRD for this great milestone agreement. Borsa İstanbul is at the heart of our ambition to make Istanbul an international financial center. As a founding member of the EBRD, the relations with the Bank are very important to us. Turkey has now become the largest recipient of EBRD finance. This demonstrates the Bank’s confidence in Turkey. Today’s agreement is the expression of this trust. The EBRD has great experience and knowledge in transforming other stock exchanges. This will help the development of Borsa İstanbul. On the other hand, we appreciate Nasdaq deeply as a partner. I believe that the value of this partnership and investment will be better understood in the forthcoming period”.
As part of “Borsa İstanbul’s Global Journey on its 142nd Anniversary” event, a panel was held with the participation of Borsa İstanbul’s Founding Chairman and Member of the Parliament, Izmir, from the Justice and Development Party İbrahim M. Turhan; former Chairman of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey and Boğaziçi University faculty member Prof. Dr. Vedat Akgiray; Istanbul Technical University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca; EBRD First Vice President Phil Bennett; and Nasdaq President Adena Friedman. Following the panel, a closing bell ceremony was held for BISTECH and a signing ceremony was held for the EBRD Strategic Partnership Agreement.
Member of the Parliament, Izmir, from the Justice and Development Party İbrahim M. Turhan expressed his best wishes for Borsa İstanbul for a happy anniversary on its 142nd year, and shared the four-phase vision they developed during his incumbency with Borsa İstanbul. Turhan said that the first phase of this vision was “restructuring”, and went on to say, “Thanks to the support of our esteemed President, then the Prime Minister of Turkey, as well as Mr. Ali Babacan, who was then Minister; and the Chairman of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey at the time, Prof. Vedat Akgiray, we issued the Capital Markets Law and Istanbul Stock Exchange demutualized into Borsa İstanbul. After that, we merged with the Istanbul Gold Exchange and Izmir Derivatives Exchange and also integrated with Takasbank, thereby successfully completing the “Horizontal and Vertical Integration” phase”. Turhan said that the third phase was “Strategic Partnerships”, during which, the partnerships with Nasdaq and EBRD converted Borsa İstanbul into a technology company running a trading platform, from an exchange with a technology department. Turhan emphasized that the last phase of the strategic vision is Borsa İstanbul’s public offering, adding, “I believe that the valuable executives of Borsa İstanbul will successfully complete this phase and realize the vision we created in 2012”.
EBRD First Vice President Phil Bennett said: “We welcome Turkey’s ambition to transform Istanbul into a dynamic hub for internationally significant financial services. With Borsa İstanbul as the catalyst for development of the Turkish capital markets, we believe that our partnership is a logical step towards fulfilling this ambition. As a shareholder, the EBRD will work to improve the efficiency and liquidity of Borsa İstanbul and help it become a leading exchange in terms of the number of listed companies and market capitalisation, reflecting the full potential of the Turkish economy.”
Former Chairman of the Capital Markets Board and Boğaziçi University Faculty Member Prof. Vedat Akgiray said that Boğaziçi University has a long-term relation with Borsa İstanbul, and added that the Financial Technopark is only one of the joint projects of the two institutions. Akgiray said that Borsa İstanbul is the sole exchange of Turkey and the largest in the region, and added, “Financing is for people. That was the intention when the exchange was founded 142 years ago. Then, there was a break of 100 years. Borsa İstanbul registered the fastest growth in the world. Had we done all of this in time, we could have been bigger than Nasdaq. And so we will be”.
Istanbul Technical University Rector Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca indicated that the company they founded in cooperation with Borsa İstanbul is one-year old only, and said, “We will start profiting next year. Our data center will be launched soon. We have nearly 100 companies in our Technopark, which will be operating in finance. We will grow with Borsa İstanbul”.
Prof. Dr. Karaca expressed that the ecosystem they established with Borsa İstanbul is aimed at supporting entrepreneurship, and added, “The competition on entrepreneurship we organized last year received 100 projects in the first year. This year, we have 3,900 applications. If Borsa İstanbul supports entrepreneurship through the Private Market, this ecosystem will improve further. We need more success stories. I am thankful to our government for their support in this field”.
Nasdaq President Adena Friedman indicated that they are a technology company and went on to say, “Our partnerships are mostly in the form of technology transfer. However, in the case of Borsa İstanbul, we became shareholders. This is a first for Nasdaq. This actually shows the power of our partnership”. Friedman expressed their gratitude to Borsa İstanbul management, adding, “This is a milestone in the history of Nasdaq. With Borsa İstanbul, we will realize the transformation of other exchanges in the region”.
At the panel, İbrahim M. Turhan asked: “Most of such technology projects are long-term, but unsuccessful. How come did such a comprehensive project with Borsa İstanbul succeed in such a short time?” Nasdaq President Friedman replied to this question by saying that they defined the scope of the work at a very early stage, and said, “Borsa İstanbul team became a part of us. They learned from us, and we learned from them. It is easy to say, but it is difficult to do. But we always focused on the result. Everyone was part of this and a fantastic project came out. We owe such a successful start to working with very skilled people”.
The closing bell of Borsa İstanbul on the occasion of its 142nd anniversary rang for the renewal of its Equity Market’s 22-year old applications along with its ecosystems as part of BISTECH “Transformation through Technology Program” simultaneously with Nasdaq, and as part of this event, the Turkish flag streamed in the Times Square of New York in a live broadcast.
Borsa İstanbul CEO Tuncay Dinç said that they wanted to celebrate the 142nd anniversary of Borsa İstanbul along with the partnership with the EBRD as well as the BISTECH project. Dinç said that the partnership with the EBRD is the right choice for Borsa İstanbul since the EBRD is an institution that is active in the Balkans and the Middle East, where Borsa İstanbul intends to be active. Dinç said that an exchange means technology, and added, “If you want to be ready for the future, you have to be technologic. With BISTECH, we increase both the speed and capacity of the exchange. This will make us capable of competing with the other exchanges of the world. We have taken the source codes, sales rights and copyrights from Nasdaq. We wanted to realize this with our own people. In the forthcoming years, we want to make this technology sellable to other countries”.
Dinç also indicated that Japanese, known for their skill in technology, want to buy that technology, adding, “We are working to convert Turkey from a technology-using country to one that produces technology. We are doing what we do not for today, but for the future. We want to plant seeds before we need them. Thanks to this structure, we will be one of those exchanges capable of competing in the future”.
Borsa İstanbul CEO Tuncay Dinç
Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Mehmet Şimşek
