By Bahattin Gonultas
ANKARA (AA) - The Bank of China (BOC) has received permission to operate a deposit bank in Turkey by investing $300 million, Turkey's banking watchdog said on Friday.
In a statement, the country's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) said BOC had brought the "required capital" and would apply to start operating shortly.
The bank, world's seventh largest and the third largest in China, has been interested in Turkey for a long time. BOC had launched its preparations to establish a commercial bank in the country in 2015 after running a representative office since 2011.
BOC becomes the second Chinese lender to operate in Turkey, after other Chinese lender Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which had purchased a majority stake of Tekstilbank last year.