| [Daily News & Economic Review] Turkish lender Kuveyt Türk has started selling “gold-on-the-go” from automatic teller machines, or ATMs, fulfilling a promise it made in January. Gold savings in Turkey, which stood at around 200 million to 250 million Turkish Liras in 2007, rose to 1.2 billion liras last year. The gold savings in banks is over $2 billion. According to estimates, more than 10 pct of national savings is in gold. Gram-gold sales from ATMs, a first in the world, will not bring a huge economic advantage to Kuveyt Türk but expects serious demand and transaction volume. Customers will be able to buy 1-gram and 2.5-gram gold pieces from ATMs. The service is currently only available at Kuveyt Türk’s headquarters branch. But it is expected to spread to 180 branches in the next year. Kuveyt Türk is 62 pct owned by the Kuwait Finance House and 18 pct owned by Turkey’s General Directorate of Foundations. |
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