INTEREST-FREE BANKING'S AND CONVENTIONAL BANKING'S ATTITUDES AGAINST FINANCIAL CRISES: THE CASE OF TURKEY

Following the financial crisis in 2001, Turkish banking sector started a ‘restructuring’ process. This led to recovery of the damage caused by the crisis and, despite the significant decrease in number of the banks, the banking sector gained quite a sound structure. This imrpovement allowed it to remain strong against the global financial crisis that took place after 2007 and caused important progress for many financial indicators, in particular the deposits and loans. Interest- free banking, which has been operating in form of participation bank through the profit and loss sharing system since 2005, become a competitor, in a different aspect, to deposit banks, an important part of the conventional banking. This study compares attitudes of the Participation Banks and the Deposit Banks against their customers before and after the crisis, in light of the financial indicators from the financial statements. The analysis concludes that Particpiation Banksa re significantly different from Deposit Bank in aspect of 'acticity ratios', which are based on the main areas of activity.