Turkey mulling merger of three state-owned Islamic banks – Dunya

Turkey is exploring the idea of merging three of its state-owned Islamic banks, local newspaper Dunya reported on Wednesday (June 23).

The three banks Ziraat, Vakif and Emlak have combined assets of 133.7 billion liras ($15.4 billion), according to Dunya. If merged, the new entity will be the second biggest Islamic bank by assets.

Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank is the biggest, holding 152.29 billion liras in assets at the end of last year, according to industry body TKBB.

Turkey has six participation banks, as Islamic banks are called in the country. Their market share by assets was 7.3% at the end of April, according to TKBB.

The government wants to see Islamic banking market share reach 15% by 2025.

Indonesia earlier this year completed the merger of three state-owned Islamic banks as the country chases faster growth of Shariah-compliant assets. The merged Bank Syariah Indonesia held assets equivalent to $17 billion at the end of 2020.

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