Ziraat Bank

A leading British consultancy named Türk Telekom on June 14 as Turkey's most valuable brand for 2017.        
According to the London-based Brand Finance valuation consultancy's list of top 100 Turkish brands for the year, the integrated telecommunications service provider topped the list with a brand value worth more than $2.6 billion.        

Halk Investment CEO Murat Çetinkaya was elected as the new CEO of Turkey's main stock exchange Borsa Istanbul, replacing Osman Saraç, during the bourse's 4th Ordinary General Board Meeting on June 8. 

Borsa Istanbul Chair Himmet Karadağ has kept his position. 

Four sub-funds have been established under Turkey's new sovereign wealth fund (TVF) in order to concentrate on financial stability, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), licenses and the mining sector, according to top representatives from the TVF.

Turkey's state-run Ziraat Bank will offer services in neighboring Georgia under a new institution called JSC Ziraat Bank Georgia, it announced on May 2.        

Turkey's banking sector achieved its highest growth rate in the last six years in the first quarter of 2017, mainly thanks to a skyrocketing rise in the loan volume, according to the head of the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB).

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has questioned why all general board meetings of Turkey's state-run lenders have been postponed until after the referendum, speculating that the government may be "afraid of something in their balance sheets." 

Moody's Investors Service has taken rating actions on 17 Turkish banks, changing the ratings outlook from stable to negative on 14 of the lenders.

The ratings of one additional bank were also downgraded with a negative outlook, while the ratings of two other banks were affirmed with outlooks unchanged.

Some 52 billion Turkish Liras ($14.3 billion) in loans and credit card debts were restructured in Turkey in September 2016, said the head of a top sector association, adding that this was a huge figure and that the sector achieved a great success by implementing the restructuring.

Turkey has transferred stakes in İzmir Port, which has been in privatization portfolio since 2007, to the Turkish Wealth Fund, in a bid to help finance giant infrastructure projects. 

The stake transfer was informed to respective authorities, according to sources. 

The wealth fund will have the authority to rent, transfer or sell the port. 

The Turkish Government, in an unprecedented decree, announced the transfer of its most valuable financial and real assets into a wealth fund on Jan. 5. For any ordinary Turkish citizen, the "transfer of assets into a fund" sounds a bit shady.