Istanbul Financial Center to open on April 17

The Istanbul Financial Center (IFC) will open on April 17, Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum has said.

A ceremony will be held to deliver houses in the Fikirtepe neighborhood to be attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Kurum said during a visit in Istanbul.

"On the same day, we will also launch the Istanbul Finance Center, which will create jobs, boost development in the area," the minister added.

The IFC will bring together public and private sector banks, asset management companies, brokerage firms, insurance companies, professional service companies along with Turkish and international financial institutions.

The IFC project, which will become a hub for close co-operation with Turkish and international businesses and investors, includes the offices of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT), Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA), Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (CMB), Borsa Istanbul, Türkiye Sigorta, Ziraat Bank, Halkbank, Vakıfbank and İŞ REIC.

The IFC will include 1.4 million square meters of office space, a 100,000-square-meter shopping mall, a congress center, with the capacity to hold up to 2,100 people, a 30,000-square-meter 5-star hotel, a car park with capacity for 26,000 vehicles, all created within a "smart city" model.

The IFC will host up to 50,000 employees daily, offering a state of the art working environment, as well as green space and leisure facilities.

The center is designed to deliver growth to the Turkish economy and international investors by becoming a regional center in the short term and a global center in the medium term.