IVth Sustainability Finance Forum held

Minister Yılmaz: “Development is the distribution of increased wealth to the society fairly” 

IVth Sustainable Finance Forum, organized jointly by the Business World and Sustainable Development Society Turkey (SKD Türkiye), United Nations Environmental Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and Global Compact Turkey, was held at Borsa İstanbul with the title “Comprehensive Finance for Comprehensive Growth”. In his opening speech, Minister of Development Cevdet Yılmaz said that along with development, it is necessary to talk about increased wealth and fairness, adding, “All individuals making use of equal opportunities regardless of where they live and the society segment they come from is a basic concept of development”.

The fourth Sustainable Finance Forum, organized jointly by the Business World and Sustainable Development Society Turkey (SKD Türkiye), United Nations Environmental Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and Global Compact Turkey, was held at Borsa İstanbul on Wednesday, May 11, 2016.

The event was hosted by Borsa İstanbul. The main sponsors of the event were Garanti Bank and Şekerbank while TSKB was a supporting sponsor. The Forum’s theme for this year was “Comprehensive Finance for Comprehensive Growth” in order to create awareness on the financing of environmentally sustainable and socially comprehensive growth, which has a growing place in Turkey’s agenda.

The opening speeches were delivered by the Minister of Development Cevdet Yılmaz, Borsa İstanbul Chairman Himmet Karadağ, SKD Türkiye Chairman Canan Ercan Çelik and UN Global Compact Turkey Chairman Mustafa Seçkin. At the Sustainable Finance Forum, the importance of comprehensive finance for strong and sustainable growth was emphasized.

As part of the Forum, two panels entitled “Comprehensive Finance in Emerging Markets” and “Good Practices in Financial Comprehensiveness” were held, where Turkish and foreign experts discussed the relationship between sustainable and comprehensive growth and financing from the perspective of the business world.

Minister Yılmaz: “Comprehensive growth means offering equal opportunities of access to the markets and resources for both individuals and companies.”

In his opening speech, Minister of Development Cevdet Yılmaz said that development is not all about economy, while economy constitutes a significant part of development, and added, “On the one hand, we are talking about increased wealth along with development, and on the other, we are talking about the concept of fairness. Fair distribution of increased wealth to the society. All segments of the society receiving their share from wealth. We can call this “the social dimension of development”. At this point, equality of opportunity is very important. All individuals making use of equal opportunities regardless of where they live and the society segment they come from is a basic concept of development”. Yılmaz emphasized the importance of the environment and sustainability dimensions of development, adding that comprehensiveness is a concept that they always underline. Yılmaz went on to say, “In addition to stable growth, we have included the superiority of law, human development, protection of the environment, and the sustainable use of resources in our Development Plan”. Yılmaz pointed out to the fact that the Sustainable Development Targets envisaged by the UN and accepted by the world leaders are very important and added that, previously, they had the Millennium Development Targets, that they had left behind a very successful period and the world had covered a significant distance in terms of the fight against poverty. Expressing that the world currently needs a much wider frame, Yılmaz said, “The world has covered some distance, but is nevertheless face to face with challenges in various fields, especially global warming and climate change, and has not yet made significant progress in this respect. The forthcoming process will be the main indicator, and it is a matter of practice. Improvement in the real sense of the word depends on practice. We must watch this process all together”.

Yılmaz reminded the audience that the basis of the United Nations Sustainable Development Targets is “to realize sustainable and comprehensive economic development for everyone, ensure complete and productive employment and jobs becoming with human dignity”, adding that comprehensive development means equal opportunities for individuals and companies for access to the markets and resources. Yılmaz said that comprehensive finance is a critical factor in ensuring comprehensive economic development. Yılmaz said, “By comprehensive finance, we mean that each segment of the society has the same rights regarding financial services; increasing access by new enterprises, micro businesses, and SMEs to financial services; and strengthening the capacity of national financial institutions to extend banking, insurance and financial services to include everyone”.

Yılmaz pointed out to the importance of comprehensive growth, saying, “Within the framework of the concept of comprehensive growth, we must diversify the financial instruments, financial markets, make more innovations, and access all segments of the society. By comprehensive growth, we mean contribution by all segments of the society to development and benefit from its advantages. As part of the vision to improve our financial markets, we need to realize the understanding that embraces all segments of the society. I wholeheartedly believe that we can realize this target through national and international networks that we will develop as a result of the cooperation of the public sector, private sector and the civil society”.

Karadağ: “We will accelerate our Efforts on Comprehensive Products and Practices”

Borsa İstanbul Chariman Himmet Karadağ said that in order to prevent any maturity incompatibilities which may occur due to the fact that Turkey’s long term projects are financed by short term deposits in the banking sector, it is very important to revive the capital markets. Karadağ said that Borsa İstanbul will accelerate its efforts on comprehensive products and practices for improving the capital markets of the region and Turkey, and therefore, develop new mechanisms to facilitate widening the capital base and allowing low and medium income groups to invest in high-income products. Karadağ went on to say, “Therefore, we aim to contribute to the economy while making progress on decreasing unjust income distribution. As part of this vision, we will be working in cooperation with all the actors of the capital markets on developing new models whereby Turkey’s projects in the areas of real estate, energy, information technology and defense industry will be financed by our people, and the revenues of such projects will be shared with our people”.

Çelik: “Globally, 2 billion people do not have access to institutional financial services”

SKD Türkiye Chairman Canan Ercan Çelik said that globally, 2 billion people do not have access to institutional financial services, while 73% of the low-income population does not have access to banking services due to several reasons and 35% of small businesses in developing countries see access to financial resources as the most important impediment to their operations. Çelik said that 57% of the Turkish population has bank accounts while only half of the lowest income group, constituting 40% of the population, has bank accounts.

Çelik said that Turkey is relatively in a good state in terms of financial comprehensiveness, and went on to say: "In order to reach a better point, we realized the Financial Access, Financial Education, and Protection of the Financial Consumer Strategy in 2014. Within this framework, Turkey assumes aggressive targets to eliminate the barriers against especially young people, disadvantageous groups and SMEs to access financial resources. The recent developments show that the conclusion statement of the G-20 Summit held in Antalya as well as the UN Development Targets focus on “comprehensiveness”.

Seçkin: “Comprehensive Financing will create Gains in a Wide Range from Fight against Poverty to Gender Equality”

UN Global Compact Turkey Chairman Mustafa Seçkin said that sustainable and comprehensive financing is a critical element that touches the entire Global Targets announced in the previous year, adding, “It is very important to emphasize this awareness in both the financial and real sectors under the title of “Comprehensive Finance for Comprehensive Growth”. Seçkin emphasized that spreading the understanding of comprehensive financing for the healthy development of the markets will return to societies as gains ranging from the elimination of poverty to gender equality, and added, “As Global Compact Turkey, we will continue our efforts to increase the capacity of our actors as well as to raise awareness, in consideration of the fact that the transformation in the financial sector –which is our natural partner- will also contribute to the vision of a better world on a global level”.

Actors of Comprehensive Finance –from Osmaniye to the United Nations- came together at the Panel...

As part of the Forum, the panel entitled “Comprehensive Finance in Developing Countries” discussed the importance of sustainable finance, with examples from the UNDP to the female entrepreneur that established a buffet through micro financing.

In his speech at the panel, UN Development Program Private Sector Manager Hansın Doğan mentioned the importance of the level of development, adding: “Gender inequality takes countries down in the development ranking. The G20 meetings recently held in Turkey have emphasized the importance of comprehensive finance. The connection of Sustainable Development Targets with comprehensive finance is important. There are many ways of fighting against poverty. However, unless a sustainable comprehensive finance model is presented, poverty cannot be eliminated. Especially women need this. While realizing sustainable finance targets, groups must be prioritized”.

International Project Consultancy (IPC) Micro, Small and Medium Sized Companies Financing Development Specialist Marga Scheck said, “If we think of economic development in terms of sustainability, it is very important to define the target audience. Not everybody can use the resources efficiently. At this point, it is important to support the entrepreneurs that are capable of improving their business and producing. The important thing is not to maximize the profits, but to ensure sustainable growth. For this, long term is important. In comprehensive finance models, we take individuals as basis rather than groups, in contrast to traditional models. It is also of utmost importance to support female entrepreneurs”.

BBVA Microfinance Association Strategy and Research Chairman Giovanni Di Placido said, “Almost half of the workforce in developing countries consists of unofficial workers and most of them run their own businesses. Therefore, financial comprehensiveness is one of the most important and basic subjects and has not yet been handled entirely”.

Cennet İşlek, a small cafeteria owner in Osmaniye, talked about the support she received through micro finance. İşlek said, “At the start, I received the greatest support from my husband. Since we live in a small place, the support of your spouse is very important. Women can achieve whatever they want. Once, when I was having difficulty, I met Şekerbank officials and raised finance. Before that, I was afraid to get loans. I got the loan, I received training from them and I learned to see the business in long term. I recommend women to not get tired of working and have self-confidence. As soon as I pay back the loan, I am planning to receive some more in order to grow my business”.

In the second panel entitled “Good Practices in Financial Comprehensiveness”, Mastercard Turkey and Azerbaijan CEO Yasemin Bedir, Visa Europe Turkey CEO Merve Tezel and Vodafone Turkey Executive Member Kerem Günay shared companies’ practices on financial comprehensiveness.