TCMA 2020 ANNUAL REPORT

to accurately convey the value created by the capital market to our society. You can reach all episodes of the program, in which we have addressed a number of topics from corporate bonds to venture capital, on the TCMA YouTube channel. We Continued to Organize Training Besides investor education, we organized training in various fields so that market professionals would keep abreast of the developments. Our training programs continued in physical environment and online in 2020 under the heading “Birlikte Eğitim”. A total of 1,336 people participated in 35 training programs we organized in 2020. In addition, we continued with our joint events with universities aimed at increasing academic studies on the capital market, expanding financial literacy, publicizing the industry and fulfilling the need for qualified employees within the scope of the capital market industry and university cooperation. During the reporting period, we had the opportunity to get together with 51,795 university students and to give them an introduction to the capital markets in events organized by 30 different universities. In addition to these activities, we carried on with our projects on social network channels in order to bring our investor education initiatives to broader groups. Our Peer-Reviewed Journal Began to be Featured on International Databases We kept releasing our publications that are followed up with interest and regarded as reference by the industry in 2020. When preparing our publications in Turkish and English, we took care to produce content providing information about current topics discussed in the international arena. Launched in 2017 and published in cooperation with the Emerald Publishing Group, our peer-reviewed “Journal of Capital Markets Studies” continued to take steps to reinforce its position and increase its recognition in the industry as an international, open access and peer-reviewed periodical. As a result of these efforts, our journal began to be featured in two international databases, EconLit and ERIH PLUS. On another note, our Association took place in the Group Executive Committee of the “Venture Capital (Private Equity) Funding Program” (GİSDEG) set up under TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) the Directorate of Technology and Innovation Funding Program aiming to activate venture capital funds supporting startups focusing on R&D. Additionally, the TCMA acquired 5% stake in Birleşik İpotek Finansmanı Kuruluşu (BİFK – Birleşik Mortgage Financing), which will contribute to deepening capital markets through securitization of loans. Distinguished Members, We will strongly carry on with our efforts to expand our capital markets’ sphere of influence, to deepen and develop them with the aim of helping the Turkish economy grow sustainably, and channel the resources to future- and technology-driven productive areas. I would like to underline once again that altogether we can improve our investment environment by attracting the foreign savings we need, besides increasing our domestic savings and attracting them to our capital markets. We are anticipating the Turkish economy to display a more positive performance in 2021 than in 2020 that has been the scene to tough events. I am confident that our members engaged in the capital market will increase their contribution to our real sector companies through financing of investments by way of public offerings and bond issuances, and through risk management products. I am expecting 2021 to be a year in which our country will get a share of global capital movements commensurate with its potential, backed by the supportive policies of the economy administration. I wish 2021 will also mark the start of a new period through which our economy and capital markets will flourish further. I believe that we will carry out major initiatives also in the international arena in the coming term that will carry our Association and our industry further ahead. I leave you to our annual report for the details and more of our activities that I discussed briefly in these pages. As always, I thank you, our esteemed members for your invaluable contributions, my colleagues on the boards of directors and auditors who always act in harmony in all sorts of decisions and actions for undersigning remarkable results, and the valued employees of our Association. Yours sincerely, Tevfik Eraslan Chairperson TCMA 2020 ANNUAL REPORT 21