Turkey exempts Euroclear, Clearstream from trade limit

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey’s banking watchdog on Wednesday gave exemptions to two foreign institutions -- Euroclear Bank and Clearstream Banking -- from its new limit on banks’ lira transactions with foreign institutions.

On May 5, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) lowered the limit to 0.5% of banks' equity for Turkish lira depo, repo transactions, and credits with foreign financial institutions.

Today’s decision on Belgian-based Euroclear and German-based Clearstream was taken to ensure the efficient trading of Turkish lira securities, and so the clearing operations of Turkish-lira-denominated bond and lease certificates transactions are not adversely affected, the BDDK said in a statement.

The agency added that Turkish lenders' branches in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), the TRNC Central Bank, and TRNC Development Bank were also exempted from the limit.