Abdi Serdar Üstünsalih

The top executives of the three Turkish state lenders - Ziraat, Halkbank and Vakıfbank - have pledged to grant loans to Turkish businesses in a bid to support economic development and increase prosperity.

General managers of Turkey's three state banks met with businesspeople in the northwestern province of Bursa on Feb. 3.

The Turkish Banking Association (TBB) on April 21 elected Alpaslan Çakar, the general manager of Ziraat Bank, as its new chairman.

In a statement, TBB said elections for the chairman of the board of directors and vice chairman were held at the board meeting.

VakıfBank, a Turkish state lender, obtained banking license in Qatar, it announced on May 18.
VakıfBank became the first Turkish bank to get the license in Qatar, the bank said in a press release.
The bank plans to launch its operations in Qatar after the coronavirus pandemic, said Abdi Serdar Üstünsalih, the bank's general manager.

The Turkish banking sector will end 2019 better than expected, with a recovery in macroeconomic indicators such as growth, inflation, and unemployment, said the heads of both state and private banks.

Bank managers expect the sector to continue to support the economy in 2020.