The “Workshop on Participation Banking and Interest-Free Finance”, which was held with the participation of Atty. Bekir HALAÇOĞLU, one of our partners, was hosted by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) and the Participation Banks Association of Türkiye (PBAT).
The aim of the workshop was to determine the basic dynamics to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of the interest-free finance market in our country, taking into account the economic, social, political and legal conditions of our country, the perceptions of the society regarding participation banking and interest-free finance and the current domestic and international practices in this field, and to put forward concrete suggestions that will contribute to the strategy and action plans for the establishment of the necessary infrastructure.
On the first day of the workshop, a panel session on “Vision of Türkiye for Interest-Free Finance: The Turkish Model” was moderated by BRSA’s Chairman Mukim Öztekin in order to bring together all parties related to participation banking and interest-free finance. Panelists at the panel session included Burhanettin Aktaş, Deputy Undersecretary of the Treasury; Dr. Vahdettin Ertaş, Chairman of the Capital Markets Board (CMB); Murat Çetinkaya, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT); Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yaman, Member of the Supreme Board of Religious Affairs (DIYK) of the Directorate of Religious Affairs (DİB); Prof. Dr. Mehmet Bulut, Member of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK); and Dr. M. İbrahim Turhan, Chairman of the Board of Borsa Istanbul. The panel session was followed by the three-day workshop sessions. A total of 94 participants attended the workshop, including officials from the Undersecretariat of Treasury, BRSA, CBRT, CMB, DIB, BIST and PBAT; academics; medium and senior managers of participation banks; private sector representatives; and representatives of relevant institutions from abroad, particularly the World Bank (WB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). The session topics of the workshop were discussed in nine sub-working groups titled “Training, Human Resources and Certification”, “Product Diversity, Resources”, “Product Diversity, Placement”, “Markets”, “Insurance Business, PPS”, “Standards and Regulations”, “Corporate Communication, Perception and Reputation Management”, “Advisory Boards” and “Strategy, Coordination and Innovation”.
