The bank’s CEO, Onur Genç, assured last Tuesday that it will not change its strategy in Turkey. This follows the recent dismissal of the governor of the Turkish Central Bank, Naci Agbal, only four months after being appointed. BBVA will remain a long-term investor and “is well positioned,” Genc said.
The news of Agbal’s dismissal triggered a sharp depreciation of the Turkish lira, close to 10 %, and a similar plunge in the Istanbul Stock Exchange the day after.
According to Genç, the main risk for the entity in Turkey does not lie in the recent dismissal of the Turkish Central Bank governor, but in foreign currency operations, something that the entity can handle “without problems” as it is a long-term investor.
“Long-term investors, when we look at Turkey, see a great demographic. We are talking about a very young demographic, it has a lot of characteristics which in the long term make us comfortable,” said Genç.
