Bank Asya cleared to raise capital

Leading Turkish Islamic bank Bank Asya has received approval from the country's capital markets regulatory board to raise its capital by 25 percent, the bank announced late on Tuesday.

Bank Asya said its application to Turkey's Capital Markets Board (SPK) to raise the bank's capital from TL 900 million to TL 1.125 billion was approved by the SPK. “The board approved the bank decision to raise capital on Oct. 2,” Bank Asya said in a note to Borsa İstanbul (BİST) on Wednesday.

Bank Asya's capital adequacy ratio stood at 17.35 percent as of the end of June, one of the highest in the Turkish banking sector, and above the sector's average of 16.3 percent. The bank has been under intense political pressure since last December, with companies loyal to the government withdrawing millions of lira in deposits from Bank Asya. The bank's CEO Ahmet Beyaz said in an interview with Samanyolu Haber television on Sept. 16 that the bank had one of the strongest capital structures in the industry and will survive. Tens of thousands of loyal customers have deposited huge sums of money in the bank, which so far has helped keep it on its feet.

Published on Today's Zaman, 15 October 2014, Wednesday