Bank Asya
Bank Asya was established in October 24, 1996 with its head office in Istanbul, as the sixth private finance house of Turkey. The company's name, which had been previously "Asya Finans Kurumu Anonim Şirketi" (Asya Finance Incorporated Company), was changed into "Asya Katilim Bankasi Anonim Şirketi" (Asya Participation Bank Inc.) on December 20, 2005. Bank Asya, with an initial capital of TRY2 million and paid up capital of TRY900 million, had a multi-partnered structure based on domestic capital. At the end of 2009, Bank Asya’s total assets reached TRY14 billion. Bank Asya rose by 47  places in the “Top 1000 World Bank Ranking” of “The Banker” Magazine in 2010, rising to 473 from 520. At the same time, Bank Asya ranked 403rd on “The Banker’s Top 500 Banking Brands”. Bank Asya has also become the largest participation bank in Turkey. Bank Asya carried out its activities with 182 branches, 2 national and 1300 foreign correspondent banks besides the head office units as of May 2011. The bank has been strongly tied to the controversial Gülen movement, led by the Islamic cleric and preacher Fethullah Gülen, and is widely considered to be founded and operated  by his followers. By the end of 2013, the relationship between the Gulen movement and the ruling AK Party soured, and the Gulen movement was declared a national security threat. Consequently, Bank Asya lost a large fraction of its deposits and its lucrative contracts with government agencies. Its net income plummeted 81% in the second quarter of 2014. Its stock is currently suspended from trading by BIST (Istanbul Stock Exchange), due to uncertainties regarding its ownership structure. Two separate acquisition deals (by Qatar Islamic Bank and by Turkish state owned Ziraat Bank) fell apart. Finally, on August 25, 2014, Moody 's downgraded the bank with the statement "During this period, the bank's net income declined by 81% compared to last year. Additionally asset quality also deteriorated. These sharp deterioration trends in financial fundamentals resulted in lowering the bank's rating." On 22 July 2016, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) cancelled Bank Asya's banking permissions as part of the 2016 purges. History. 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011