ENLARGED ADVISORY BOARD MEETING FROM NART  

“Enlarged Advisory Board”, a now-traditionalised yearly meeting of Nart Sigorta ve Reasürans Brokerliği A.Ş., which is Turkey’s largest insurance and reinsurance broker among companies with Turkish capital, took place at The Ritz Carlton Hotel on 31 March 2009 under chairmanship of Mr Yavuz CANEVİ, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TEB.

After opening speach by Yavuz CANEVİ, Levent TART, Chairman of the Board of Directors of NART Sigorta ve Reasürans Brokerliği A.Ş., gave some information about the crisis going on in the world and in Turkey and its impact on insurance sector as well as about developments in Global and Turkish Insurance and Reinsurance Markets.

Also talking about structure, development and services of NART, as well as about innovations it offers for the sector, Levent Tart said that they are able to provide customs-made (personalised) insurance solutions to over 45.000 customers, both individual and corporate, on the strength of their 70 expert personnel in Turkey and of their Ankara, Izmir and Bursa Area Directorates and of 20.000 risk experts hired by partners in 120 countries of the world.

Levent Nart underlined that they are member of number 1 and 2 Brokering Groups of Europe and of number 3 Brokering Group of the U.S.A., and that they are the first company which launched NART Risk Management Forum meeting, NART Plus Arts Insurance, Product Liability, Business Interruption, CAR, EAR and Loss of Profit Insurances in our country.

He also pointed out that NART Group has managed to reach a growth rate which is 3-fold higher than Turkish Insurance Market in the last 3 years, thereby enjoying a larger share of the market.

After speech by Levent Nart, the first guest speaker of the Advisory Board, Cevdet Akçay, chief economist of Yapı Kredi and Koç Financial Services, took the floor and made his comments on the global crisis going on both in Turkey and in the world and on Turkey – the IMF relationships, as well as on our Banking system, under the light of concrete available data. He pointed out that the world is beginning to discover deficiencies in what it did and is on the way to remedy and make up for such deficiencies and that consumer rights would now come to the stage in financial world and that this would be a useful development for Turkey and that we are all bound to live in a more straightforward, more primitive and better world within 3 years.

He also indicated that Turkey has taken measures more than necessary and that is one of those countries which enjoyed the chance of going through this crisis with minimal damage and that, yet, has misused that chance and that economy now experiences some minor activities.

Another guest speaker, Asaf Savaş Akat, a Teaching Staff Member at Istanbul Bilgi University, took the floor and said that he agrees with comments made by Cevdet Akçay and that Turks are renowed for their pessimistic views. Underlining the negative impact of wrong monetary policies implemented as from 2004, Mr Akat indicated that Turkey of the past is different from Turkey of today and that we need to be more realistic in today’s Turkey and that Turkey would get out of the crisis late and that even such get-out would be unhealthy and not as domestic market-driven, unlike the past experiences, and that recovery would come from exports.

He also pointed out that if Turkey had the courage to loose monetary and fiscal policy in early 2008, our growth rate would have been -2,5 instead of – 6,2, and this would have meant lesser unemployment and lesser go-busting. He finished his speech saying “We need to keep up our optimism about Turkey and those who played on Turkey have always won”. 

During question-and-answer leg of the meeting, Members of the Advisory Board and representatives of national and international companies found the opportunity to ask questions and get comments from guest speakers.

Among Members of the Advisory Board of NART Sigorta ve Reasürans Brokerliği are Country Presidents and General Managers of prominent enterprises of both Turkey and the World, as well as presidents of national and international non-governmental societies.