On November 10^th 2013 Mr. Suleyman Aslan, CEO of Halkbank and Mr. Safdar Hosseini, chairman of NDFI held their first meeting and expressed their interest in initiating cooperation. Halkbank is the only Turkish bank which has had close ties with Iran since the start of sanctions against Iran and is determined to expand its cooperation with Iran and more specifically Iranian banks.

Halk bank has been cooperating with Iranian banks such as Central Bank of Iran, Saman Bank, Parsian Bank etc. for more than 30 years. Halkbank, with more than 870 branches and 50,000 employees in Turkey, is listed on Istanbul stock exchange (Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange) and its major shareholder is the Turkish government. This bank provides a broad range of services including insurance, brokerage, real estate and IT services to more than 11 million clients in Turkey and has branches in Macedonia, Bahrain and Cyprus. More than 90% of the trades between Iran and Turkey are done through Halkbank.

Mr. Suleyman Aslan asserts that he is following the negotiations between Iran and 5+1 Group regarding nuclear energy program and affirms tighter cooperation with Iran in the near future considering the possibility of reaching a deal on relaxing sanctions against Iran.

Mr. Safdar Hosseini requested Halkbank to encourage Turkish investors to invest in Iran with the financing support of both parties and Halkbank being in charge of doing the feasibility study of the projects. Mr. Aslan recommended establishing mutual funds, trading dollar/euro denominated bonds and deposits as possible instruments to start cooperation with NDFI.