Home > News > 2000 > September 2000 > Barnett Waddingham in Turkey
Barnett Waddingham in Turkey
Pete McGurk, a partner in our Life insurance consultancy team describes Barnett Waddingham's recent work helping Turkey's state benefits reform.
Turkey is a country in transition. Following the example of the much-revered founder of modern Turkey, Kamal Attaturk, it has for many years attempted to reconcile a western-style economic and social path with its Islamic background. It also has an ambition to become a member of the EU but a record of unstable government, high government deficit and high inflation has not helped its case.
The recent coalition government led by Bulent Ecevit has introduced a rare element of stability to the Turkish political scene and it is proceeding at a rapid pace with an ambitious programme of economic reform. The large and increasing deficit being run up by the social security system is being addressed by a major overhaul of the complex system. As part of the reform in this area, the government proposes to introduce a defined contribution private pension arrangement to supplement the state system. A draft bill has been published which envisages a system having unusual features to a British eye. For example, there is no compulsion to buy a retirement annuity and all funds can be taken as cash at retirement. It is also proposed that funds arising from personal (not employer) contributions can be withdrawn at any time. It seems likely that further changes will have to be made to the proposed system to ensure its success, not least of which is a more generous tax regime.
Barnett Waddingham is advising one of the potential providers under these arrangements. This involved visits to Istanbul by partner Pete McGurk, associate Carole Ward and insurance consultancy team member Jug Parmar. Their busy work schedule only allowed a limited amount of time to explore this fascinating and historic city. They will however learn to be more trusting of the locals following an 'interesting' experience during an evening out to celebrate Jug's actuarial exam success. Their cynical distrust of a Taksim Square hustler's advice to "not go down that street" led to a very educational interlude in Istanbul's top ladyboy bar. An actuarial sang-froid was maintained until a less than gentle pinch applied to Pete's rear end by what looked like a rugby prop forward in a miniskirt precipitated a hasty move for the door.
Despite this, we look forward to doing more work in Turkey!
Pete McGurk, September 2000.