Bank Asya shares tumble on return to trading

ISTANBUL

REUTERS Photo

Shares in Turkish participation bank Bank Asya plunged when trading resumed after a suspension of more than a month due to uncertainty regarding its ownership.

The lender’s shares fell 11.3 percent to 1.10 lira when they opened in the morning of Sept. 15, the first day of trading since Aug. 7.

Borsa Istanbul released a statement to announce that Bank Asya shares remain closed to margin trading and short-selling and are still subject to gross settlement.

The shares of the Islamic lender, which was founded by supporters of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, were traded at 1.24 liras before being halted by Borsa Istanbul.

Borsa Istanbul suspended trading the lender’s shares on Aug. 7. A week after its first closure, it made a statement and announced that the lender would be removed from the stock exchange’s indexes until uncertainty regarding its ownership is resolved.

Last week, Capital Markets Board (SPK) Chairman Vahdettin Ertaş said the suspension would continue until a new decision is made.

The bank has seen its profits and capital base collapse since December 2013 when it found itself at the center of a power struggle between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Gülen