Bank Asya fights back against Erdogan attack

Ahmet Beyaz, the chief executive of Turkey’s government-besieged Bank Asya, says his bank is the victim of a political campaign waged by Turkey’s powerful president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Beyaz and his executive vice-president Feyzullah Egriboyun claim the repeated attacks on the bank clearly constitute a crime under Turkey’s strict banking legislation. The Turkish president has denied any orchestrated campaign against Bank Asya. He went on to say "this bank has already failed", without naming Bank Asya. Such claims are wrong, Beyaz says, insisting Bank Asya is among the three strongest banks in Turkey, boasting a capital adequacy ratio at about 20%. Bank Asya supporters argue that the Erdogan attacks on Bank Asya pose a systemic risk to the wider Turkish banking system.