President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan removed Capital Markets Board (SPK) Chairman Mahmut Sütcü and appointed Kutluhan Taşkın as deputy treasury and finance minister in decisions published in the Official Gazette on Oct. 20.
Sütcü had submitted his resignation a day earlier, citing health problems. He had headed the regulator since May.
Taşkın, previously deputy head of the Presidency’s Strategy and Budget Office, replaces Osman Çelik, who submitted his retirement request to Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek on Oct. 19.
The decisions also removed former SPK Chairman İbrahim Ömer Gönül as head of the Public Oversight, Accounting and Auditing Standards Authority.
Şimşek had authorized an investigation into Gönül on Oct. 14 following a request from Istanbul prosecutors as part of the investment fund probe.
Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz has said the State Supervisory Council is examining financial regulators, including the SPK and the banking watchdog, to establish administrative shortcomings and individual responsibility in the fund crisis.
The crisis hit the headlines just over a month ago, prompting prosecutors to open an investigation into allegations of widespread market manipulation.
It began when several funds were unable to satisfy redemption demands, with regulators placing seven firms into liquidation that manage 131 investment funds with assets reportedly worth some $17 billion.
Reports say some 455,000 individual investors are affected.
Trustee appointed
Separately, Tera Yatırım Teknoloji Holding said in an Oct. 19 filing to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) that the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) had been appointed as its trustee under an Istanbul court ruling dated Oct. 14.
The TMSF appointed a nine-member board.
The company said the new board had taken over its management.
In another decision published on Oct. 19, the SPK said voting rights held by Tera Yatırım Holding and related companies and funds in Peker GYO, a real estate investment trust, had been automatically frozen since Sept. 16.
The restriction followed Tera Yatırım Holding’s failure to fulfill a mandatory tender offer obligation after acquiring control of Peker GYO, the regulator said.
The SPK lifted the freeze on voting rights held by four Tera-managed funds already ordered into liquidation.
It also barred stock exchange trading in Peker GYO shares held by Tera Yatırım Holding and the other holders whose voting rights remain frozen until the tender offer obligation is fulfilled.
The regulator said investors who held Peker GYO shares when the acquisition was announced could seek compensation in court from Tera Yatırım Holding for any losses resulting from its failure to make the offer.
