Central Bank eases securities maintenance rules for lenders

The Central Bank has announced that it will scrap the implementation regarding securities maintenance based on loan growth while raising the monthly maximum interest rates to be charged for credit cards. 

The bank said it is considering terminating the securities maintenance practice "in a short while."

The securities maintenance ratio applied to liabilities subject to securities maintenance will also be reduced from 4 percent to 1 percent, according to the bank.

The Central Bank continues to simplify macroprudential policies to safeguard the functionality of market mechanisms and macro-financial stability, it said in a statement.

The bank started to ease securities maintenance regulations last year.

Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings said in a report that GCC banks with Turkish subsidiaries should benefit from Türkiye's macroeconomic adjustment and its shift to more conventional and consistent economic policies.

Disinflation should reduce the subsidiaries' net monetary losses, and slower Turkish lira depreciation should reduce the adverse capital impact from currency translation losses, according to the ratings company.

Fitch upgraded 18 Turkish banks in March, including several GCC-owned subsidiaries, following the upgrade of Türkiye's sovereign rating from "B" with a stable outlook to "B+" with a positive outlook

Fitch said at that time that the positive outlook reflects its expectation that Türkiye's overall macroeconomic policy stance will be consistent with a significant decline in inflation, as well as a continued reduction in external vulnerabilities.

In the report on banks, Fitch forecasts Turkish inflation to average 58 percent in 2024 and 29 percent in 2025.

Meanwhile, in a letter to the...