IslamicFinance.de

Bank Asya, known for its close ties to the controversial Gülen Movement announced last month that it would sign a merger agreement with Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB). After announcing the prospective merger, Bank Asya's share in BIST, Turkey's stock market, rallied and increased by nearly 60 percent in one week. However, officials at the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) said they have not received any formal merger application from Bank Asya executives. Authorities said that Bank Asya is looking for assurances from the BDDK that the agency will approve the merger, otherwise the Qatari bank may not be willing to sit down at the negotiating table again. Whether or not the merger happens, the speculative news has negatively affected small investors.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has entered into exclusive discussions to acquire a stake in Turkey’s Bank Asya. QIB is seeking to finalise the transaction within the next few months, subject to obtaining the required regulatory approvals. The Qatari bank did not say what stake it might buy or disclose any other details. Bank Asya had said earlier it had started talks on a strategic partnership with QIB and planned to complete the process soon. It gave no further details. The Islamic bank has been in focus since state-owned companies and institutional depositors have reportedly withdrawn 4 billion lira ($1.8 billion), or some 20 percent of the bank’s total deposits. Bank Asya said it had weathered the mass deposit withdrawals and was not at risk.

Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya said it had weathered mass deposit withdrawals, which the media said were orchestrated by government supporters as part of a backlash against a corruption scandal blamed on an influential cleric. Turkish media say state-owned companies and institutional depositors loyal to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan have withdrawn 4 billion lira ($1.79 billion), some 20 percent of the bank's total deposits, over the last month to try to sink the lender. The bank is reportedly not at risk because new deposits worth more than half that amount were placed in the bank by ordinary citizens. The government has declined to comment.

Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya applied to the regulator, the Capital Markets Board, to issue sukuk worth up to $500 million, the bank said on Friday. The bank made the statement to the Istanbul stock exchange.

Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya plans to issue at least 125 million lira ($62 million) of lira-denominated sukuk by the end of the year, according to deputy general manager Feyzullah Egriboyun. Bank Asya applied to the Capital Markets Board to issue sukuk worth up to 1 billion lira in July.

Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya said on Monday it had applied to the Capital Markets Board to issue sukuk worth up to 1 billion lira ($520 million). The bank said in a statement to the Istanbul stock exchange it had mandated its brokerage arm for the issue.

Bank Asya is eager to achieve bilateral trade between the Indian and Turkish economies worth $15 billion over the next five years. Officials of the Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya were in Mumbai to discuss the rapidly growing business ties between India and Turkey. The proximity of financial institutes between the two economies would benefit business and trade, according to Cenk Karacaoglu, Vice President, Bank Asya, Turkey. The rapidly growing Indian economy presents huge potential for business and trade with Turkey, he added. The bank will further expand business with Indian companies. Bank Asya has agreed to offer Shariah compliant banking facilities in India and was awaiting the regulator's nod.

Turkey's Bank Asya is set to complete the general syndication stage of its Shariah-compliant loan imminently.

Turkey's Bank Asya has raised USD250m through a 10-year non-call five subordinated Islamic bond. The notes priced at par to yield 7.5%, in line with initial price thoughts of mid-seven percent. The issue carries a Ba3 rating by Moody's, one notch lower than Bank Asya's senior unsecured rating of Ba2. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Emirates NBD, HSBC and National Bank of Abu Dhabi are joint lead managers on the Reg S transaction.

Turkish Islamic lender Bank Asya said on Monday it had mandated banks for a subordinated sukuk issue worth up to $300 million with a ten-year maturity. The lender made the statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Strong investor demand and a need to improve capital adequacy ratios are causing Turkey's Islamic banks to consider issuing subordinated sukuk.

Strong investor demand and a need to improve capital adequacy ratios are causing Turkey's Islamic banks to consider issuing subordinated sukuk. Ibrahim Oguducu, head of the financial institutions business at Bank Asya, said longer-tenor subordinated sukuk would help balance mismatches between the maturities of banks' liabilities and assets, while diversifying their funding sources. Subordinated issues might not be expensive for Turkey's Islamic banks that have issued only two sukuk so far.

Bank Asya plans to open 30 new branches and hiring 500 new staff members according to Ahmet Beyaz, the new General Manager. Abdullah Çelik is the general manager for Asia, who reported about the opening of the Erbil office and plans for India and Asia in general.

For the second time, the Turkish Bank Asya will try to issue a debut dollar-denominated sukuk worth up to $300m. The issuance is planned for the first quarter of 2013. The sukuk is expected to bring up to TL150m ($57m) of lira denominated paper.

The postponement of the proposed sukuk offerings of two of Turkey's participation banks, Al Baraka Turk Katilim Bankasi and Bank Asya, showes how the dynamics of the global financial crisis, especially the on-going euro zone debt crisis and the credit crunch, are having a negative affect on more stable economies in the emerging countries.
Both banks were supposed to close their sukuk offerings by the end of 2012.
An ATPB source stated that if the market conditions are right, they may re-announce the (sukuk) transaction within this month (January 2012), probably in 2 weeks time.

Citigroup Global Markets Limited and UBS AG have been licensed for Sukuk launch in international markets maximum term of 5 years up to USD 300 million. The reason for this decision is that Bank Asya's resources from abroad must be diversified and increased.
Therefor, Bank Asya is begining negotiations with investors.

Bank Asya is arranging a small acquisition of between $10-20 million in a Balkan country in partnership with the Islamic Development Bank.
hief Executive Abdullah Celik stated that Bank Asya itself was always drawing attention of bid offers but these were well below the bank's potential.

Earlier this year, the Istanbul Stock Exchange issued an index of Sharia compliant banks and companies. That attracted the media very much.
It has been made clear that these banks do not charge interest, or “riba”, because it is forbidden according to Islamic law. The way that these banks operate remains unknown.
Four participation banks are currently operational in Turkey: al Baraka, Bank Asya, Kuveyt Türk, and Türkiye Finans. These banks offer a wide range of services, including savings and checking accounts, house and automobile financing, and even Islamic bonds.

26 international financial institutions gave Bank Asya a loan, becoming the largest loan ever given to a turkish bank.
Bank Asya’s General Director Abdullah Çelik stated that this loan prooves the trust that international markets have in the Turkish economy and his bank.

India may soon get its first foreign Islamic bank with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking government approval to allow Turkey's Bank Asya to offer Shariah-compliant lending in the country. Bank Asya is keen to start its Indian operations through a representative office in Mumbai.
RBI has requested the government to consider the Turkish bank's application within 45 days.

Bank Asya, one of Turkey’s four Islamic banks, has mandated ABC Islamic Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered to arrange its $150m dual currency one year murabaha loan.