![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775398629_544_JN9LXf.png\")
<\/p>\nSyria is in the final stages of establishing a correspondent bank account with neighboring T\u00fcrkiye’s central bank and \u200bwill also discuss a potential currency swap aimed at boosting \u200ctrade, according to the Syrian central bank chief.<\/p>\n
T\u00fcrkiye has been the main backer of the Syrian government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa since the ousting of longtime dictator Bashar Assad in \u200blate 2024. Al-Sharaa has been seeking to rebuild state institutions \u200band the economy after more than a decade of war, \u2060sanctions and financial isolation.<\/p>\n
Trade between the two countries has surged, but \u200bbusinesses say the lack of a cross-border payments system was one of \u200bthe biggest impediments to further growth and investment. A correspondent bank account would help to facilitate cross-border payments and trade finance transactions, which traders say are currently \u200bcash only and handled by traditional money transfer offices.<\/p>\n
In written responses \u200bto Reuters questions, Abdulkader Husrieh, Syria’s central bank governor, said he expected Syrian-Turkish cooperation \u200cto \u2060expand “into integrated payment systems, cross-border settlements, and more structured trade finance frameworks.”<\/p>\n
“Cooperation with T\u00fcrkiye, particularly between the Central Bank of Syria and Turkish authorities, is accelerating and becoming increasingly institutionalized,” said Husrieh, who was on \u200ba two-day working \u200bvisit to \u2060T\u00fcrkiye this week.<\/p>\n
Lenders eye expansion<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Turkish Trade Minister \u200c\u00d6mer Bolat said T\u00fcrkiye and Syria were accelerating cooperation between \u200btheir central banks, adding that Syria’s central bank \u200bgovernor would meet Turkish \u200bbanking regulators.<\/p>\n
\u2060Bolat said closer banking \u200bties and the entry of \u200bTurkish lenders into Syria could help boost trade and industrial investment.<\/p>\n
Turkish state lender Ziraat Bank and smaller private Aktif Bank were also expected to begin Syrian \u200boperations “in the near term,” Husrieh said.<\/p>\n
Both banks have submitted applications and their officials said operations are expected \u200bto start \u200bsoon.<\/p>\n
Business leaders this week said \u200brestoring banking services and \u200bresolving \u2060customs and logistics issues would be key to increasing \u2060bilateral \u200btrade.<\/p>\n
T\u00fcrkiye’s exports to Syria \u200bjumped following \u2060Assad’s ouster by 60% to $3.5 billion last year, official data show, while Syria’s imports were at $235 million. The countries aim to almost triple trade \u2060volume \u200bto $10 billion over the medium term.<\/p>\n
“This ambition \u200bwill require a fully functioning financial system in Syria, supported by strong correspondent banking relationships,” \u200bHusrieh said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n The Daily Sabah Newsletter\n <\/p>\n
\n Keep up to date with what\u2019s happening in Turkey,
\n it\u2019s region and the world.\n <\/p>\n
SIGN ME UP\n <\/p>\n
\n You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
\n This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Syria is in the final stages of establishing a correspondent bank account with neighboring T\u00fcrkiye’s central bank and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[19355,328,2670,23241,147,2665,95,445,4466],"class_list":{"0":"post-60921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-syria","8":"tag-banking","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-central-banks","11":"tag-currency-swap","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-post-assad-syria","14":"tag-syria","15":"tag-trade","16":"tag-turkiye-syria-relations"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116380595872738497","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}