Turkland Bank (T-Bank), acquired at the beginning of 2007, has been completely revamped. Many senior managers are new recruits who bring a wealth and breadth of experience in their relevant domains. This includes the General Manager and most business lines heads. A new Board has been put in place, representing both the Arab Bank and BankMed. One of the board members is in charge of market, operational and credit risk, and in this respect, all the bank’s risk guidelines have been changed. The policies and procedures have also been revamped.

Heavy investment has been made at the level of the infrastructure. T-Bank was moved to a new head office as the staff doubled to around 430. Operations have been beefed up significantly. Branches were expanded from 10 to 25, located mostly in major commercial centers. Doubling T-Bank’s balance sheet is not a goal far from reach, and to that end, the shareholders have pumped in more than $100 million in additional capital.   

BankMed hopes to capitalize on the high growth and increased liberalization and openness of the Turkish economy. Going ahead, T-Bank will continue to carve its niche, focusing mostly on small and medium-size enterprises, which is one of the most promising sectors in Turkey.