ISTANBUL, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Turkey’s banking regulator has granted the local arm of Japanese lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group permission to give support and advisory services for some credit transactions, the government said in its Official Gazette on Thursday. The move by the BDDK banking regulator will broaden the services Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Turkey can offer at a time when Japanese companies continue to invest in Turkey and bid for local projects. Mitsubishi UFJ’s roots in Turkey date back to 1986, when one of its predecessor banks opened a representative office. It was given approval for a banking licence in 2012. Mitsubishi UFJ is the world’s third-largest bank and Japan’s top lender, with $2.6 trillion in assets, according to Thomson Reuters data. While concerns about Turkish security and uncertainty over domestic politics have weighed on sentiment and hit the lira currency in the last year, Japanese companies still appear keen to invest, given the young and rapidly growing population and a number of ambitious infrastructure projects. Japanese industrial conglomerate IHI Corp and trading house Itochu Corp are among the bidders for a 10 billion lira ($2.60 billion) suspension bridge project over the Dardanelles Straits, according to a tender document obtained by Reuters. ($1 = 3.8481 liras) (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by David Dolan)
Turkey 's banking regulator has given permission to Turkey 's Itochu Corp to give support and advisory services for some credit transactions. The bank is Japan 's top lender, with $ $2.6 trillion in assets, and its ties with Turkey date back to the last year . Turkish companies continue to invest in the country in projects such as infrastructure, despite recent security and political instability.