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overcome by this centralized system, which the Association of
Financial Institutions set up together with the Credit Bureau of
Turkey and which is under our Association’s control. It is also
an indication that it has prevented 230 thousand duplicate
transactions since its establishment.
Last year we organized a successful legal symposium during
which various legal issues were discussed, not the least of
which is the problem of suits for declaratory relief. We hope to
see the benefits of such gatherings towards improving the legal
and regulatory frameworks in the future as well.
Turkey now ranks first in the world in terms of correspondent-
guaranteed export factoring transactions. Until last year, we
were the second after China in terms of such deals but a surge
in business volume boosted us to first place.
Turkey’s factoring companies also continued to rack up
international successes in 2016. A major one was achieved
when six of the firms active in this country were ranked among
the top ten cross-border factors in the “Export Factoring”
category by the members of Factors Chain International, the
world’s biggest factoring industry association. That two of them
(Garanti Faktoring and TEB Faktoring) placed first and second
respectively in the voting was a source of pride for both our
industry and our country.
For all of that however, we are of the opinion that our industry
has still not reached a desirable level where domestic factoring
is concerned. During 2016 we conducted an extensive program
of events in which four cities around the country were visited in
order to publicize and promote factoring products. In the period
ahead, we will be working on new projects at the AFI level that
will focus on corporate communication and perception issues.
Our efforts to expand the Turkish factoring industry with new
products and technology are also continuing. We are looking to
involve ourselves in a variety of collaborative efforts that bring
buyers, suppliers, dealership organizations, major financing
companies, and credit insurers together on an electronic
platform that will both increase our business volumes and
lighten our operational workloads in every aspect of business
dealings. This electronic platform has been tendered and we
hope to have it up and running and at the service of our
members towards the end of 2017.
We believe that the Turkish factoring industry will continue
to grow steadily in 2017 and be able to make an even bigger
contribution to the sustainable development of the Turkish
economy.
Sincerely,
M. Çağatay Baydar
Deputy Chairman
(on behalf of Factoring Sector Representatives Board)
International
success
Until last year we were second only after China in
terms of such deals but a surge in business volume
boosted us to first place.
New
products
Our efforts to expand the Turkish factoring industry
with new products and technology are also
continuing.
The Association of Financial Institutions
Annual Report 2016
9