Esteemed Chairman of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey,

Chairman of Borsa İstanbul,

Chairperson of the Association,

Distinguished guests,

I humbly welcome you all to our Borsa İstanbul Opening Bell Ceremony we organized for World Investor Week.

We are beginning this week with the Opening Bell Ceremony we host today. We expect these events to contribute to financial literacy in particular. I wish the events to be held will yield successful results to all our stakeholders.

Our capital market has significant growth potential in terms of supply and demand.

Thanks to this potential, we firmly believe that we will make great strides in terms of our Stock Exchange and economy.

To ensure this, we set forth an objective through which

• more companies have access to various resources,
• a wider investor base has been reached,
• new products and services are launched according to market needs. 

In sum, we foresee an objective through which we focus on the growth of the market.

Keeping that in mind, our intermediary institutions are our most important partners, and investors are our most significant stakeholders.

We are experiencing the best example of it during this pandemic that affects the whole world. As Borsa İstanbul, we have continued to offer our services uninterruptedly along with our intermediary institutions. As an industry, we went through a serious test. We accomplished to keep ourselves on par with the changing conditions.  I would like to extend my thanks to our intermediary institutions for their meticulous efforts. I wish Allah’s mercy upon those who lost their lives.

At the beginning of 2020, the number of our investors which was 1.2 million have reached up to 2.4 million.  The expansion of the number of our retail investors increases our responsibilities as well. We strive for an environment that promotes transparency and accurate information flow. Moreover, we continue our efforts for corporate investors and develop new products that can diversify their portfolios.

The aim of reaching a wide investor base is hinged upon the functioning of the market in a secure, transparent, effective, stable, fair and competitive environment.

There are two main sides to ensure such an environment. These two sides are also interrelated and affect each other.

One is on the supply side, and the other is on the demand side.

• The supply side involves the transparency of the companies.
• The demand side involves the financial literacy of investors.

As a marketplace, we bring together savers and those who demand using these savings. Within this structure, we seek to establish the best technical and legal infrastructure services. However, these are not sufficient. In this respect, while explaining the importance of financial literacy at every opportunity, I would like to call upon our investors once again:

Please,

• Have a good understanding of the product you are going to invest in.
• Make a good comparison of maturity and risk for investment.
• Make sure to diversify your investments.
• Do not act upon misinformation and rumors.
• Get financial information and follow statements from the right sources.
• Follow the companies on the Public Disclosure Platform.
• Do not rely on social media.
• Examine the research reports of the intermediary institutions you work with.
• Pay regard to the advice of your investment advisors in the intermediary institutions.
• Assess your savings according to this information.
• Enhance your financial literacy level.

 Distinguished guests,

Investors can now access all kinds of information in real-time. While technological developments strongly foster this access, it is essential to raise the awareness of our investors and to promote their access to the right information in order to make the right decisions.

Increasing diversity in financial markets brings about the correct management of financial risks as well.

Our primary goal in fostering financial literacy should not only be to increase the know-how of financial participants, but also to equip them to make the right decisions. We endeavor to reach the younger generation and equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills so that they can make the right and conscious decisions.

We attach great importance to foster the know-how and financial literacy of younger generations on capital markets. As Borsa İstanbul, we were regularly organizing free financial literacy training on weekends in our campus by collaborating with intermediary institutions before the pandemic. Furthermore, we organized meetings with the students held training and seminars in line with the demands of the universities. During the pandemic, our specialists continue to train younger generations through webinars.  We have completed the establishment of BISTLAB, the first application and simulation laboratory in our country, in various universities, which aims to spread financial literacy, especially to younger generations, to raise awareness of savings and investors.

Financial literacy videos of Borsa İstanbul were broadcast on EBA TV which is one of the main channels of education that secondary school students attend at home during the pandemic. As such, it was aimed to access younger generations in the most accurate way through national channels.

We continue to publish videos on our website and YouTube channel to inform our investors.

We provide financial support to the research reports prepared by our intermediary institutions regarding companies listed on our Stock Exchange.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to everyone who contributed to the organization of the World Investor Week events so that investors can have the equipment, know-how and skills that will contribute to their financial well-being.

I extend my best regards.