CHP’s İşbank shares to be transferred to Treasury sooner or later: Erdoğan

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has reiterated that the main opposition party Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) stake in the listed private lender İşbank will be transferred to the country’s Treasury.

After the death in 1938 of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic, his 28.1 percent stake in İşbank was transferred to the CHP.

The opposition party does not take any share of profits from İşbank, but has four seats on its administrative board.

“They [the CHP] say they do not receive any money from the bank. You have four people on the board of the bank. It is not clear what those board members are doing there. The CHP’s shares in the bank will be transferred to the Treasury sooner or later,” Erdoğan said on Feb. 11 during a speech he delivered in the capital Ankara.

Last week, Erdogan said that parliament would take a decision regarding the CHP’s shares in İşbank.

The bank’s shares declined around 6 percent on Feb. 5 following Erdoğan’s remarks.

Shares in İş Bank dropped shortly after the president’s comments regarding the shares transfer to the Treasury but later recovered on Feb. 11. The bank’s shares were trading 1.3 percent higher as of 4:30 pm local time on Feb. 11.

İş Bank reported on Feb. 8 that its net income increased by 9.2 percent to hit 6.8 billion Turkish Liras ($1.3 billion) last year.