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#Turkey's Finance Minister Naci Agbal said the ministry initiated studies on a draft law on the Istanbul International Finance Center (IIFC). Agbal stated that the government introduced new financial instruments step by step, including the founding of the Sovereign Welfare Fund (SWF), real estate certificates and Islamic finance tools, in an attempt to intensify Turkey's financial markets. The draft law on the IIFC aims to offer opportunities to financial players and attract international financial institutions to Turkey. At the IIFC 50,000 people will be employed and it will have 25,000 daily visitors once opened. The joint infrastructure work of the financial center includes an administrative building, a police station, a health center, fire department, continuing education center, various academic courses, a mosque, a nursery, an underground parking lot and a trestle.

According to Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) Chairman, Sakir Ercan Gül, Bank Asya's shareholders need to wait until the end of the bank's liquidation process to receive their remaining funds. Gül said the process of paying deposits would not be immediately initiated and the finalization of the liquidation process would be delayed. The law regarding deposits grants a three-month period for payments, which will expire this month. There are nearly TL 2 billion ($653 million) worth of deposits in the bank, including TL 950 million worth of insured deposits. If the bank has any remaining funds after the liquidation process, these will be distributed to the bank's shareholders in accordance with the percentage of their shares. According to Gül, the bank is now hovering between bankruptcy and liquidation.

The 47th anniversary of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was celebrated on Saturday in Istanbul. The event was organized by the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA). Halit Eren, general director of IRCICA, said the organization had two main goals, one to restore Islamic cultural heritage in Muslim regions in war and the other to struggle with radicalism. Eren said the OIC works on projects to restore the historical structure in the walled city of Jerusalem and in war-torn Syria. OIC General Secretary Iyad bin Ameen Madani was the main speaker of the organization. In his speech, Madani said the OIC made important steps in social, cultural, economic, technologic and educative domains.

Islamic Development Bank (IDB) President Ahmad Mohamed Ali Al Madani has said they are ready to support Turkey to maintain the country's stable investment environment in the wake of the July 15 coup attempt. Al Madani said that the Turkish government has continued to promote domestic and foreign investments by boosting the liquidity of its markets to minimize short-term risks since the coup attempt. He noted that the establishment of the Sovereign Welfare Fund (SWF) is an extremely important development as it will help the government transfer its achievements to strategically important sectors. Al Madani remarked that Turkey will maintain its 3 to 4% growth rate despite its dependency on foreign energy.

The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) announced that the operations of Bank Asya will be temporarily frozen. According to the official announcement, the decision was made by the Fund Council in accordance with Article 107 of the Banking Law. The tender for the sale of Bank Asya's shares was scheduled for Friday and TMSF announced that no bid had been offered for the tender. Although shares were planned to be opened to transactions following the bank's sale, Bank Asya's shares are now closed for transactions. Bank Asya is believed to be the main financial institution for the controversial Gülen Movement, which is accused of large-scale cheating and nepotism.

The tender for the sale of Bank Asya is set to take place on July 14. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli stressed the importance and the magnitude of the sale, as Bank Asya was subject to financial maladministration by the previous management. While sunken credit totaled TL 2.2 billion ($750 million), credit volume in September 2015 reached TL 6.5 billion. The bank's capital dropped to TL 1.2 billion in 2015. Upon inspection of the actual amount of sunken credit, Bank Asya's cumulative losses totaled TL 1.6 billion.

The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) decided to extend the deadline for the preliminary qualification to offer bids in the sale of Bank Asya. Al-Rajhi Bank, Bank Al-Jazeera (BAJ), Al-Bilad Bank and Alinma Bank are the possible banks that asked for the one-week extension of the deadline from June 10 to June 17 to prepare the documents. According to Moody's, in the case that Bank Asya is sold to a well-known bank and strengthens its financial strength, it will be in a better condition to pay its debts to its creditors.

The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) announced the sale of Bank Asya shares for June 24. The TMSF will sell 183.6 million of the total 360 million preference shares, pricing each share for TL 0.70 ($0.23). This represents 51% of the total preference shares, that is the controlling power of the bank. According to the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) the troubles in Bank Asya's financial structure, administration and operations pose risks to depositors as well as the security and stability of the financial system.

Deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, Mehmet Simsek, has said Turkey will hold meetings to increase sukuk exports in the first half of 2016. The country is preparing a draft law which would bring balance to the taxation of Islamic financial contracts and encourage long-term loans. Simsek said that the Ministry wants this system but implementation depends on investor interest. Regarding the establishment of a megabank in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Simsek said the probable scenario includes two megabanks, one in Indonesia and the second in Turkey.

The head of the Savings and Deposits Insurance Fund said the deadline for the sale of Bank Asya is May 29. If a buyer cannot be found, the bank will be liquidated. The bank started reporting huge losses throughout 2015, while its shares were suspended from trading in Borsa Istanbul. Later it was taken over by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund. According to the audit report on Bank Asya the bank's shareholders signed blank transfer contracts and a large number of dubious transactions were carried out.

Mehmet Ali Akben, president of the Banking Supervisory and Regulatory Authority (BRSA), said that Bank Asya will either be sold by the end of the month or its license will be canceled. The bank started reporting huge losses throughout 2015, while its shares were suspended from trading in Borsa Istanbul. Later it was taken over by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund. The BRSA's audit report on Bank Asya said the bank's shareholders signed blank transfer contracts and a large number of dubious transactions were carried out.

Fitch Ratings expects Turkish banks to have continued resilience to economic shocks as they still retain reasonable capitalization and liquidity. According to Fitch Financial Institutions Director Lindsey Liddell the agency expects their performance to remain reasonable, however the banks will face some challenges given the slower growth environment and margin pressure from competition. There will be further asset quality pressures, particularly considering the sector's high level of foreign currency lending and the sharp devaluation of the local currency in 2015.

Adnan Ahmed Yousif, the head of Al Baraka Banking Group, said Turkey, and especially Istanbul, had the potential to become a hub for financial services. Yousif, who is the president and CEO of the Bahrain-based group, said Turkish economic administrators were aiming to broaden the services offered to customers, with special focus on participation banks. He also said Turkey's huge potential might facilitate the interest of investors from the Gulf countries as well as create new opportunities for the recently expanding sukuk market in Turkey.Turkey and especially Istanbul, is very close to participation banking markets, such as the GCC and Europe.

Many Iranian banks have created a roadmap to open up to the world. Bank Pasargad, the second-largest finance company of Iran with billions of dollars of blocked assets in many countries worldwide, is one of them. According to Mostafa Beheshtirooy, a member of the executive board at Bank Pasargad, the bank has started conducting research into Turkey, Germany, Spain and China, adding that business could be done via a local partner or a take-over of a bank. Beheshtirooy said that, despite the negative impacts of the rising dollar and falling oil prices, the bank's total assets will reach $70 billion; in stark contrast to the current $19 billion it holds.

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.

After Bank Mellat obtained the right to expand its operations in Turkey in March 2014, Iran's Saman Bank has also applied to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK). The BDDK is now considering the Iranian bank's request; BDDK is expected to issue a reply around New Year's. Bank Tejarat and Pasargad Bank are also expected to reapply to be involved in the Turkish finance market after Saman Bank's application is approved. The approval of the expansion request of Bank Mellat, which had not been operationally active in Turkey due to sanctions and had downsized in 2012, also raised hopes for other banks.

Indonesia's regulators have launched a plan aimed at growing the sector, which currently accounts for less than five percent of banking assets. It is modelled after similar bodies in other countries, such as the International Islamic Financial Centre in Malaysia. In addition to the OJK roadmap, the government has announced plans to merge the Islamic banking subsidiaries of four state-owned banks to create an Islamic mega-bank, which should be able to provide better services than the current Islamic lenders. Authorities believe it is a good moment, with many Indonesians getting wealthier after years of strong economic growth and an increasing trend towards piety across broad sections of society.

Istanbul will discuss halal tourism on Dec. 1-3, where more than 1,000 attendees will come together in the city for the second annual International Halal Tourism Conference. Industry and sectoral professionals are expected to formulate new strategies concerning the $150 billion sector. The concept of halal tourism, which concerns nearly 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world, is the fastest growing trend of global tourism. The conference will be crucial for professionals who are actively engaged in the sector or seeking ways to operate in this market. While countries such as Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are prominent actors in this sector, many more countries are trying to attract Muslim tourists from all over the world.

For several years, bonds from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council appeared almost immune to global instability, handily outperforming debt from other emerging markets. Unlike most of the world, GCC governments enjoyed big budget surpluses. But as oil hits new six-year lows, most of those surpluses have vanished. Economists expect all GCC states to post fiscal deficits this year, and half of them to post current account deficits. So investors are starting to re-examine their assumptions about the Gulf, and during the last two weeks of global market turmoil, GCC bonds have not escaped a general emerging markets sell-off.

The German and Iranian governments have decided to establish a joint banking committee. Officials from Berlin and Tehran will come together in September for the first meeting of the committee. The decision came after Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. together with Germany came to an understanding in the nuclear negotiations on July 14. Additionally, the U.N. Security Council unanimously accepted the draft resolution, which approves the nuclear agreement and stipulates the U.N. sanctions on Iran will be gradually lifted. $700 million of Iran's frozen assets abroad will be released every month after the sanctions are lifted. It is estimated that the total amount is around $150 billion.