Lifting Syria sanctions will benefit Turkish firms and banks, says BBVA CEO

By Karin Strohecker

LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - Turkish companies and banks will benefit from a lifting of U.S. sanctions on Syria, Onur Genc, chief executive officer of financial group BBVA said on Wednesday.

In a major U.S. policy shift, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would order the lifting of sanctions on Syria, and he met with Syria's Islamist President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday.

Turkey is expected to play a major role in the reconstruction of Syria as it emerges from more than a decade of civil war.

"For Turkey, it's going to be positive because there's a lot of reconstruction needed in Syria. Who's there to do that? The Turkish companies," said Genc, whose group comprises Garanti BBVA, the second-largest private bank in Turkey.

He said Garanti BBVA had been "a bit troubled in financing Turkish companies doing work in Syria", but he hoped that would become easier.

"The lifting of the sanctions would allow the Turkish companies to go there now much better, and the Turkish banks to be able to finance them - so it will help," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's annual meeting in London.

Genc said he would need to review the details of the sanctions removal - which have yet to be published - before he could assess their full impact.

"I do think it seems like it's going to be fully lifted, so it's going to be good for the banking system."