Dubai: Qatar’s emir headed to Turkey on Wednesday for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is dealing with a collapse of the lira currency and deteriorating relations with the United States.
Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and Erdogan are expected to discuss “means of strengthening the existing strategic cooperation between the two countries in various fields”, the state news agency QNA reported.
Qatar National Bank, the Middle East and North Africa’s largest bank, in 2016 completed the acquisition of Turkey’s Finansbank. Now around 15 per cent of QNB’s assets and 14 per cent of its loans relate to Turkey, according to Arqaam Capital.
Commercial Bank, Qatar’s third largest bank by assets, has been deploying more capital and focus on its Turkey business in a bid to benefit from closer political ties between the two countries. The lender owns Turkey’s Alternatifbank.
