The EU's choice of Herman Van Rompuy as its first president gives the union a lot of credibility and shows it doesn't pander to political pressure, Elizabeth Carey from Clontarf Capital told CNBC Friday.

Turkey's largest mobile phone operator, Turkcell expects sales growth to rise by 10% next year as the introduction of 3G technology will push revenues higher. "We are projecting 10% growth improvement in our EBITA margin as well," Turkcell CEO Sureyya Ciliv said Friday.

The UK government needs to focus on rebalancing the public finances, Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, told CNBC Friday. Lambert added that weakness in sterling could help restore the UK's lost manufacturing base.

European leaders were due to cast their votes for the first President of the European Union Thursday. CNBC's Carolina Cimenti spoke to former Latvian President Vaura Vike-Freiberga for her opinion on the role.

Sam Smith, chief executive of FinnCap, is the youngest and only female CEO of a city brokerage. FinnCap is a stock broker for AIM and small-cap companies. "Business is definitely better, (but) this year has been a tough one," Smith told CNBC Thursday.

The UK's FSA will now be able to force banks to draw up living wills to say how they could be wound up in the event of a financial crisis. "Next time round, regulators will have more options when dealing with a major banking group," David Sayer from KPMG told CNBC Thursday. James Bevan, CIO of CCLA Investment Management, joined the discussion.

"Most Gilt funds are down on the year or they're not doing very well," Ian Williams from City Financial Investment Company told CNBC Thursday. "A lot of those funds haven't recovered what they lost in January and February before quantitative easing kicked in," he said.

In order for the UK public deficit to be cut in line with government plans, "there will have to be some very unsavory tax increases or public spending cuts," Hetal Mehta from Ernst & Young ITEM Club told CNBC Thursday. James Bevan, CIO of CCLA Investment Management, joined the discussion.