Requirement for TCMB deputy governor eased

ISTANBUL-Reuters

Turkey has revoked a requirement that central bank deputy governors have 10 years prior experience and dropped a rule that banks set aside 20 percent of annual profit, the official gazette showed on July 12.

According to a decree signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the phrase “worked for at least 10 years in relation to their professions” in the central bank law, was removed.

The provision, which envisages 20 percent of the bank’s annual profit to be reserved as a reserve fund, has been repealed, the same decree said.

“The accumulated reserve funds can be distributed annually by participating in the profit, except for the reserve fund set aside from the last year’s profit,” the decree said.

In May, the bank announced it had an annual net profit of 44.73 billion lira ($6.52 billion) in 2019.

In the same decree, the Central Bank was also given the opportunity to access banks’ information instantly.