Ban on Bank Asya share trading scrutinized

A decision by the Turkish index Borsa İstanbul (BİST) to prevent the stock of the country's largest Islamic lender from being traded on the market between Aug. 14 and Sept. 15 will be re-evaluated, the country's capital markets watchdog said on Friday.

Main opposition party deputies asked Turkey's Capital Markets Board (SPK) to provide details of the BİST blockade on Bank Asya trading for a month during a Parliament session on Friday. Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Mahmut Tanal requested that SPK Chairman Vahdettin Ertaş provide a report on the closure of Bank Asya shares from trading during Friday's Parliament session, to which Ertaş said, “The SPK is working on it.” Turkish media reported last month that BİST's administration did not heed a warning by the SPK to act in line with the law with regard to banning Bank Asya's shares from trading. The daily Bugün ran a story in its Oct. 16 edition reporting on an application by BİST Chairman İbrahim Turhan to SPK, which demanded that BİST decisions on Bank Asya shares be exempted from relevant rules as stated in the SPK's laws. The pressure on Bank Asya intensified after open threats from the highest levels of the state.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has waged a dirty war against Bank Asya for its affiliations with the Hizmet movement, which has become Erdoğan's archenemy after two graft investigations were made public on Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 last year, which implicated some members of the government of the time as well as their children, even including Erdoğan's son Bilal.

Published on Today's Zaman, 07 November 2014, Friday