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Bank Asya, which is known for its links to the Gülen Movement, has been fined TL 15 million ($5.14 million) for unpaid taxes. The Finance Ministry's tax authority imposed the fines after examining the bank's accounts for 2010, 2011 and 2012. In May, the BDDK's audit report on Bank Asya revealed that the bank's privileged shareholders signed blank transfer contracts and a large number of shady transactions were carried out. After 63 percent of stakes belonging to the bank's A group shareholders were transferred to the TMSF in February, the BDDK launched an investigation into the bank, finding a number of dubious transactions in investigations. In addition, the international credit rating agency Fitch said in June that Turkey's banking sector would not be significantly affected by the takeover of Bank Asya.

The growing number of dismissals at the recently seized Islamic lender Bank Asya has drawn a reaction from the Pak Finance Employees Union (Pak Finans-??), which announced it would file complaints against the layoffs and demand that those dismissed be reinstated. In a written statement on Friday, Pak Finans-?? said nine regional managers, 13 branch managers, two directors and 264 workers have been laid off since Feb. 3. In the latest of what the union calls politically motivated decisions, three managerial-level employees were dismissed on Wednesday, the statement read. The common denominator of those discharged from the bank is that they all refused to overlook irregularities and criminal practices that had been ordered by the managing board.

The nonconsolidated loss of Bank Asya in the first quarter of this year was TL 5.8 million ($2.2 million), according to the income statement the bank released on the Public Disclosure Platform. The bank had made a TL 40.81 million net profit in the same period of last year. Bank Asya's net loss by the end of 2014 was TL 813 million. While the total assets of the bank were TL 23.2 billion in the first quarter of 2014, this figure decreased to TL 11.97 billion in the same period of 2015. On May 29, Turkish banking regulators approved the decision to seize all of Bank Asya's shares due to the bank's failure to fulfill its obligations despite the measures taken by Turkey's banking watchdog, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

Publicly traded Islamic bank Bank Asya’s owners have launched 100 cases against the seizure by regulators, with lawyer Süleyman Ta?ba? emphasizing that lawsuits can also be filed on behalf of the 18,000 shareholders corresponding to the B Group shares. Ta?ba? said that the number of cases may reach 110 with the main case file reaching 500 pages, pointing out that the B Group shareholders will also have the opportunity to file cases until the legal deadline expires in the next 35 days. The lawyer also said that a criminal complaint will be filed with the prosecutors against the bureaucrats working at the regulatory agencies who took part in the seizure of the bank and its management.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said on Tuesday that Bank Asya is in the hands of the Turkish banking watchdog and its insurance fund. On May 29, Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), the country’s banking watchdog, ruled for the complete takeover of all shares of Bank Asya by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). The deputy minister stressed that the BDDK and TMSF are independent organizations. Separately, Turkish stock exchange regulators on Tuesday lifted the ban on the trading of Bank Asya’s shares one day after it was halted. The bank’s shares opened at Friday’s closing prices 0.76 Turkish lira. The shares dropped to 0.69 lira, a loss of 9.21 percent.

Regulators announced on Friday they would take over the lender, saying its financial structure and management presented a threat to the financial system. Shareholders of the bank will bring charges against both the banking watchdog and Turkey's insurance deposit fund, lawyer Suleyman Ta?ba? said. The lawyer disputed that the latest regulatory action had been done to protect depositors, noting that Asya was profitable again. The editor of the Gülen-affiliated Zaman newspaper said he was concerned about further arrests and seizures of businesses with links to the cleric. Shares of Bank Asya were suspended temporarily on the Istanbul watchlist market on Monday after Friday's seizure of the bank, the Istanbul bourse said.

Turkey’s government said it plans to find a buyer for Bank Asya after completing the nationalization of the Islamic lender with the seizure of its shares on Friday. The bank may now be sold whole or in parts, according to an announcement in the Official Gazette on Saturday, which didn’t give more detail on the potential sale. Twelve months ago Goldman Sachs Inc. was hired to manage a sale. The New York bank set up exclusive talks with Qatar Islamic Bank SAQ., only for these to fall apart after Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said that the government preferred that the Istanbul-based lender be acquired by a Turkish state bank. The regulator has wide discretionary powers after a takeover, including to partially or completely transfer the bank’s assets to another bank, or sell to a third person.

Speaking in the aftermath of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency’s seizure of publicly traded Islamic lender Bank Asya, Lawyer Süleyman Ta?ba? vows that the continued illegal measures were political and illegal. He states that the unjust seizure will inevitably come to an end, even if it means going to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Ta?ba? also expressed that the takeover was an attempt to incite panic and cause a run to the bank, calling for the customers to display the same solidarity as in the aftermath of February 3 measure. Banking sector experts warn that illegal bank takeovers have cost Turkey dearly in international courts.

Information technology specialists from Turkey's banking watchdog, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), discovered that 800,000 transaction records were deleted at Bank Asya, which was seized by the Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) in February. According to an investigation, the mentioned transactions were deleted just after the Dec. 17, 2013 operation. After the Gülen Movement was included in the Red Book as a national security threat and deemed a terrorist organization, the accounts of some of the people that are included in the movement will be investigated. In case any relations to the movement's members are revealed, the bank may be forcibly terminated for national security reasons.

Turkish authorities said on Friday they had decided to take over Bank Asya. The move was announced by the banking watchdog BDDK just over a week ahead of a parliamentary election and on the same day that Erdogan launched the Islamic business of the state-owned Ziraat Bank. The BDDK statement said it acted as "problems experienced in the bank's activities with its financial structure, its partnership and management make-up presented a danger ... in terms of confidence and stability in the financial system." It handed over control of the bank to Turkey's Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) which said that the bank's operating licence had not been cancelled at this stage.

Turkish regulators seized the remaining shares in Bank Asya, the Islamic lender taken over by authorities this year amid a political dispute. The move against the bank was announced late Friday on the website of the bank watchdog. The aim was to protect savers and ensure “stability and confidence in the financial system,” it said. Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan denied that the seizure was politically motivated in an interview late Friday. The seizure comes before parliamentary elections on June 7 and about two weeks after the cabinet appointed Mehmet Ali Akben, a career Islamic banker and board member of the state Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, to head the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency.

Islamic lender Bank Asya has not yet filed all the documents sought by Turkey's banking watchdog BDDK after the regulators took over the bank's management and seized a small stake in it earlier this year, BDDK head Mehmet Ali Akben said on Wednesday. The government has said the management of the bank, founded by followers of President Tayyip Erdogan's ally-turned-foe Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, was taken over because it failed to meet some legal criteria.

Speculation that the Turkish government may be closer to relinquishing control of Bank Asya has stoked its stock to a record gain. Bondholders proved harder to please. Shares of the Istanbul-based lender soared more than 50% after it said most Class-A holders provided documentation to the regulator proving they’re qualified to be founding partners. The bank’s Islamic bond climbed about 3% to 61.474 cents on the dollar in the week of April 12. Government control is considered positive for bondholders. The bank’s Islamic bond due March 2023 jumped 38%, the most on record, when Turkey’s agency responsible for resolving failed banks seized control in February as investors bet authorities wouldn’t let the lender default.

Bank Asya climbed to the highest in seven months, extending last week’s record rally, amid optimism the lender may be released from government management. Shares in the company advanced 3.8 percent to 1.09 liras at 3:39 p.m. in Istanbul, the highest level since September. Bank Asya has gained more than 60 percent since April 9, when it said 152 shareholders, representing about 90 percent of Class A shares, delivered documents to the banking regulator proving they’re qualified to be founding partners. Bank Asya has been trading in a markets watchlist since September. Companies on the list trade under conditions of heightened surveillance, and trading is limited to the afternoon only.

The value of the shares in Bank Asya have jumped 41.8 percent following a recent announcement by the bank saying documents belonging to 90 percent of privileged shareholders have been sent to the banking watchdog. The bank's shares were priced at TL 0.95 on Turkey's stock exchange, Borsa ?stanbul (B?ST), at 4 p.m. on Thursday. Thursday's reading was 76 percent higher than the historic low of TL 0.54, recorded in September 2014. The interim board established by the TMSF after the takeover announced on April 9 that 152 out of 185 privileged shareholders had submitted their documents to the BDDK. Since that day, Bank Asya shares have risen by 41.8 percent, strengthening shareholders' hand in their bid to take back the management of the bank.

Former central bank governor Durmu? Y?lmaz, who is running for Parliament in the June 7 general election on the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) ticket, has criticized the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government over its efforts to sink Bank Asya, claiming that the bank is strong and that it will be the nation that suffers most if the bank is destroyed. Y?lmaz said the public authority would have the duty of taking necessary action if Bank Asya had been involved in any wrongdoing; however, he said no clear or concrete mistakes, allegedly committed by the bank, have been revealed so far.

Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya swung to a net loss of 877 million liras ($336 million) in 2014 on shrinking loans and deposits. The bank, in which Turkish banking regulators seized a small stake last week over an alleged illegal share sale, had reported a net profit of 180.6 million liras in 2013. Loan loss provisions amounted to 1.45 billion liras in 2014, almost half of which came in the final quarter, the bank said. Bank Asya wrote off 943 million worth of loans in 2014. Loans and deposits contracted 24 percent and 12 percent respectively in the fourth quarter.

Bank Asya’s lawyer Süleyman Ta?ba? vows to challenge the Finance Ministry's Financial Crimes wing (MASAK) and the banking regulator calling for return of shares. Acting upon information that the Finance Ministry's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) was engaged in concocting a report that would cast negative light on publicly-traded Bank Asya, Süleyman Ta?ba? has filed a letter to MASAK stating that only the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) and the Capital Markets Board (SPK) had authority. Adding that the incident constituted to an unconstitutional profiling of Bank Asya the lawyer vowed to defend the rights of the shareholders.

According to Standard & Poor's (S&P), the replacement of Bank Asya's management and upcoming general elections do not create risks for the banking industry. The international rating agencies' ratings for Turkey are not affected by the decision by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency's (BDDK) in regards to the seizure of Bank Asia. S&P futher noted that the bank's share in the banking system was only around 0.1 percent and therefore does not create any systematic risk for the banking sector. Moreover, Turkey's banking system is being positively affected by geopolitical developments with Turkish banks benefiting from what is happening in Russia and Ukraine.

Islamic lender Bank Asya has posted a net loss of 877 million lira ($335.58 million). The bank, in which Turkish banking regulators seized a small stake last week over an alleged illegal share sale, had posted a net profit of 180.6 million lira in 2013. Bank Asya has been battered by President Tayyip Erdogan's attempts to wipe out Gulen's religious movement, which he accuses of attempting to build a "parallel state". Regulators last month took over the bank's management after the government said it failed to meet some legal criteria.