For the European Central Bank, the relevance that fintech already has in the financial sector is becoming increasingly clear.  The latest example of this is the public consultation it has just launched to establish draft guides to bank licensing, not only for banks with traditional business models, but also for companies offering banking services based on innovative technologies, commonly known as fintech.

The European Central Bank has launched a public consultation on an addendum to its guidance to European banks on non-performing loans (NPL). The addendum specifies that as of January 1, 2018 banks must completely provision for the unsecured portion of all new NPLs after two years at the latest and for the secured portion after seven years at the latest.

Last week, 12 Nobel laureates were named in a fresh round of Nobel Prize recognitions in scientific, cultural and academic achievements and innovation.

Garanti Bank, always focused on facilitating its customers’ lives with its approach of delivering innovative products and services, has launched a new service model with the aim of offering an all-around excellent banking experience. Within the scope of Garanti’s service model, which represents a new era in the Turkish banking sector, all Garanti branches are evolving into an innovative structure built on digitalization where the customers are able to benefit from all kinds of services in a one-stop banking system in the fastest and easiest manner.

The country risk premium is the return that investors demand from a country to buy its sovereign bonds in comparison with that demanded from other countries. It is calculated as the difference between the interest rate of a country’s bonds compared to bonds issued by a benchmark country, considered "riskless."

Credit ratings are estimates that gauge the ability of a company, public administration or financial product to meet their financial commitments. In many cases they are taken as key indicators in capital markets when making investment decisions.