Turkey to 'move central bank, treasury to Istanbul'

Turkey is planning to move both its central bank and treasury to Istanbul from the capital Ankara as part of a government scheme to boost the city's financial importance, sources said.

The move of several units of the central bank and treasury to Turkey's largest city will be complete by the end of the year, three people familiar with the plans told Reuters.

Most of the central bank's functions, including key decision and operations, are to be relocated to Istanbul within the next two years, with the initial work on the move to begin soon.

The bank and ministry will ultimately move to the not-yet-completed Istanbul Finance Center, located on the Asian side of the transcontinental metropolis, the sources, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said.

The central bank's move is set to be completed by 2022, when the Istanbul Finance Center is expected to be fully operational.

Central banks are normally located in capital cities.

There are some exceptions, however, such as the Reserve Bank of India, located in Mumbai rather than New Delhi. 

"Istanbul will be the location of some important decision making institutions in the government," a source said. "Not all bureaucrats are happy about the decision."

Several other public institutions including state lenders and the banking watchdog have moved their headquarters to Istanbul in recent years.

The central bank on Thursday slashed its key interest to below 20 percent.

The move was prompted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who fired the bank's former governor earlier this month, allegedly because he refused to budge over lowering the interest rate.