Bypassing Banks: How a Swiss Trade Model is Unlocking Turkish SME Growth

BAAR, Switzerland – October 27, 2026 — When macroeconomic volatility spikes, traditional banking channels are often the first to constrict. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in emerging markets, this dynamic creates a suffocating credit crunch, cutting off the vital capital needed to import goods and maintain supply chains. As global trade routes realign and the cost of capital remains stubbornly high, a Swiss-headquartered logistics and supply chain group is betting that the future of trade finance lies not in lending, but in outright ownership.

Done Group, a specialized trade intermediary that has quietly built a $315 million annual turnover business, has officially launched operations in Türkiye. The expansion marks the company's fourth operational market, joining Switzerland, Poland, and Ukraine. By appointing financial sector veteran Filiz Ünal to lead its Turkish operations, the group is signaling a highly calculated foray into a market where import demand is surging, yet traditional collateral-based lending is failing to keep pace.

Bypassing the Banks in a Credit Crunch

The macroeconomic backdrop of Türkiye presents a textbook use case for alternative trade finance models. In 2025, the country imported an estimated $365.4 billion worth of goods, driven heavily by a robust manufacturing sector and domestic consumption. Yet, the financial infrastructure supporting this massive inflow is highly bifurcated.

According to data aligning with the OECD’s SME Policy Index for the Western Balkans and Türkiye, an estimated 41.8 percent of Turkish SMEs reported being partially or fully credit-constrained between 2023 and 2025. This figure starkly contrasts with more developed Western markets and highlights a systemic vulnerability. In environments characterized by periods of high inflation and currency fluctuation, local banks naturally retreat into conservative, highly collateralized lending postures.

This local squeeze is a microcosm of a much larger global crisis. The Asian Development Bank estimates the global trade finance gap remains entrenched at $2.5 trillion as of 2025—equivalent to roughly 10 percent of all global trade. With 80 percent of surveyed banks expecting demand to rise as companies diversify their supply chains, the gap between what SMEs need and what banks can provide is widening.

“Despite having one of the region's most developed non-bank financial infrastructures, import-driven SME demand has outgrown what collateral-based lending can absorb,” noted Dmitrii Rivkin, founder of the group. “This is the setting Done was built for.”

To navigate this complex environment, the Swiss group has tapped Filiz Ünal as CEO of its Turkish entity. Ünal brings over three decades of experience in the country's factoring and financial services sector, including pivotal roles as Deputy Secretary General of the Association of Financial Institutions and Executive Vice President at Garanti Factoring. Her deep fluency in local non-bank financial regulations provides the company with a distinct tactical advantage as it introduces a model that blurs the lines between logistics, trading, and finance.

Ownership Over Debt: Decoding the Zero-Default Claim

The most disruptive aspect of this expansion is not the geographic move itself, but the operational blueprint being deployed. Rather than extending credit to a Turkish SME to purchase goods from Asia or Europe, the Swiss entity buys the goods directly from the manufacturer. It then ships and stores the inventory in licensed, insured, partner-operated warehouses, releasing the goods to the SME only after payment is received.

This procurement-as-a-service approach fundamentally alters the risk profile of cross-border trade. By retaining title to the goods until the moment of final settlement, the company bypasses the need to underwrite the SME's balance sheet. Clients can pay for a full shipment upon arrival or draw down inventory gradually. As Rivkin pointed out, this flexibility reflects the reality that “demand is rarely linear, and inventory does not always move at a predictable pace.”

The group reported completing over 4,000 transactions in 2025, involving 1,808 supplier factories and 417 clients, with an average deal size of $50,000. Most remarkably, the firm claims it has recorded zero non-payments since its inception in 2011.

In the traditional trade credit insurance or factoring industries, a zero-default rate is virtually unheard of. However, supply chain analysts point out that this metric must be understood through the lens of asset ownership. Because the company owns the physical inventory, a client's inability to pay does not result in a traditional loan default; rather, it leaves the intermediary with the goods. The risk is thereby transposed from credit risk to inventory and market risk. If a buyer walks away, the firm must liquidate the asset.

To sustain this model without incurring catastrophic inventory losses, the company relies heavily on forensic digital tracking and rigorous supplier vetting. Before a single order is placed, suppliers are screened through platforms like AsiaVerify and the London Stock Exchange Group’s World-Check. This infrastructure ensures compliance with global sanctions, verifies ultimate beneficial ownership, and mitigates the risk of fraud. Furthermore, time-stamped inventory records provide an auditable trail that protects the firm in the event of cross-border legal disputes.

Navigating the Regulatory Tightrope

Introducing a title-holding supply chain model into Türkiye requires a delicate navigation of the country's commercial and financial regulations. The Turkish Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) strictly governs credit extension, factoring, and financial leasing. Operating without the proper licenses in these domains carries severe legal consequences.

However, by structuring its operations around the purchase and resale of physical goods, the Swiss group operates outside the traditional purview of a financial institution. Under Turkish Commercial Law, the principle of res perit domino—the risk lies with the owner—dictates the transaction. Because the group assumes the physical risk of the goods while they are in transit and storage, the operation is legally classified as a commercial trade rather than a disguised loan.

Legal specialists note that the primary regulatory risk for models of this nature is recharacterization. If local authorities were to determine that the underlying substance of the transactions—such as the fee structures or payment schedules—too closely mirrored a conventional lending agreement, the company could face regulatory friction. Ünal’s extensive background in the regulatory frameworks of Turkish factoring will be critical in ensuring that the firm's contracts remain firmly rooted in commercial trade law, avoiding the pitfalls of usury or unlicensed financial services.

A Black Sea Trade Reshuffle

The entry into Türkiye is not an isolated maneuver, but rather a strategic piece of a larger regional puzzle. The company has indicated it is currently scoping three additional market entries over the next twelve months, aiming to solidify a contiguous footprint across Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region.

This geographic focus aligns with massive shifts in global supply chains. As geopolitical tensions force manufacturers and distributors to rethink their trade corridors, the Black Sea has emerged as a critical, albeit highly complex, logistical nexus. Connecting operations in Switzerland, Poland, Ukraine, and now Türkiye creates a resilient corridor for SME trade that can withstand localized economic shocks.

For business leaders and policymakers observing this expansion, the implications are clear. As traditional financial institutions continue to struggle with the compliance costs and capital requirements of SME trade finance, the void is being filled by agile, asset-backed intermediaries. By prioritizing physical ownership over unsecured debt, these alternative models are not just facilitating imports—they are fundamentally rewiring the mechanics of emerging market trade.