ISTANBUL - Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio made the official opening of BankEuropa on Thursday.
Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP) Group, which is one of the biggest financial institutions of Portugal, bought Sitebank and entered Turkish market with BankEuropa.
Noting that he was pleased to be in Turkey, Sampaio said that BCP had a leading role in paving the way of relations between the two countries by BankEuropa. He added that commercial relations between the two countries would continue increasingly with this initiative and also the new vision of BankEuropa would add a new dimension to Turkish banking sector.
Sampaio said that a stable milieu was being formed in Turkey with the new developments in economy and added that banking system in Portugal developed very much and two countries could support each other in this issue.
BankEuropa Executive Board Chairman Tezcan Yaramanci touched on the importance of the investments of BCP Group in Turkey which had a respectful position and financial power in international field and said that BankEuropa would be an example to other similar investments and become a bridge between Turkey and Portugal.
Yaramanci said that they aimed to take part in leading banks of Turkey by serving in different fields in Turkish finance sector.
BCP Executive Board member Francesco Lacerda said that the bank, which had 12 branches in Turkey and 198 personnel, started individual banking services on July 3, 2003 and added that Turkish economy, which made positive developments after crisis and banking sector had a growth potential.
(GC-AÖ) 18.09.2003