Date posted: March 29, 2014

ISTANBUL

Bank Asya, which had seen its shares jump by over 44 percent after Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) said on Tuesday it had entered into exclusive discussions to acquire a stake in the Turkish lender, saw trading of its shares resume after a halt due to unusual price-quantity movement on Friday morning.

Trading of Bank Asya shares was on a halt on Friday until 9:51 a.m. but resumed hours later. Shares saw an 8.13 percent rise and passed the 66.4 percent mark in the last four days. Shares are being traded at TL 1.73 as of early Friday afternoon.

The Islamic bank has been in the spotlight since Turkish media reported that state-owned companies and institutional depositors loyal to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had withdrawn TL 4 billion ($1.8 billion), or some 20 percent of the bank’s total deposits, because the bank’s founders include sympathizers of cleric Fethullah Gülen, a former-ally-turned-critic of Erdoğan.

Bank Asya said it had weathered the mass withdrawals and was not at risk. The government has declined to comment. Media speculated the withdrawals were part of an orchestrated backlash against a government corruption investigation, blamed on Gülen, and which poses one of the biggest challenges to Erdoğan’s 11-year rule.

Source: Cihan , March 29, 2014

Tags: Defamation of Hizmet | Hizmet and business | Turkey |