Competition regulator to finalize bank probe report

ANKARA - Reuters

Turkey’s competition regulator plans to complete a report this month on an investigation into 12 banks over complaints of anti-competitive behavior in setting loan rates, Competition Board chairman Nurettin Kaldırımcı told Reuters yesterday.

The final decision in the investigation will be made at the beginning of 2013, Kaldırımcı said.
The board said in November it had launched an investigation into 12 banks over complaints of anti-competitive behaviour and that the investigation might be completed within one year.

The board named the banks as Akbank, Denizbank, Finansbank, HSBC, ING, TEB, Garanti, Halk Bank, Isbank , Vakifbank, Yapi Kredi and state-owned Ziraat Bank.

The Competition Board fined Akbank, Garanti, İşbank, Vakıfbank, Yapı Kredi, Denizbank and Finansbank a total 72.3 million lira ($40.68 million) over anti-competitive practices last year.

Meanwhile, participation banks in Turkey have recorded 477 million Turkish Liras of net profits in the first six months of the year, posting 33.2 percent year-on-year increase, according to the Participation Banks Association of Turkey (TKBB) data. The amount of funds collected by participation banks increased 8 percent to 43.2 billion Turkish liras compared with the end of last year.