The difficulties facing Turkish banks in providing foreign currency loans to Turkish residents subject to certain exemptions is a known drawback in terms of competing with foreign banks in the commercial loan market. This has forced these banks to provide foreign currency loans through their foreign branches, which have often been funded from their Turkish headquarters or called for such branches to utilise sizeable loans in order to meet their funding requirements. The Council of Ministers attempted to level the playing field by giving Turkish banks the option to provide large scale foreign currency loans to Turkish residents subject only to the restrictions of a minimum amount and maturity. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether this effort will be sufficient for Turkish banks to compete with foreign banks given that interest and fees in relation to loans from Turkish banks are subject to 5% Banking and Insurance Transactions Tax ("BITT") whereas loans from foreign banks are generally exempt from all taxes and levies and naturally are not subject to such BITT.