Turkish Banking Regulator Chief Resigns as 131 Investment Funds Are Liquidated
Key Facts
Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency chief, Şahap Kavcıoğlu, said on November 11, 2026, that he had asked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to relieve him of his post, citing allegations against him and the agency. In a statement carried by Bloomberg HT, he said he had requested to step down "so that our institution would not suffer further damage." The announcement came as the fallout from a Turkish investment-fund crisis continued, involving decisions to liquidate funds, investigations and arrests linked to allegations of manipulation. The resignation puts the head of the banking regulator at the center of the debate over the handling of the crisis, after he said the allegations had harmed the institution. In October, the agency said claims concerning it and its chief were unfounded and that it would take legal action against those responsible.
In September, regulators ordered the liquidation of 131 funds managed by seven asset-management companies, according to a Reuters report. The decision followed warnings from some funds that they could not meet redemption requests, leaving investors facing a liquidation and compensation process spanning months. Turkey’s Capital Markets Board said the liquidations would take six months. Reuters reported that investors with eligible net investments below 1 million lira would receive the full amounts due to them. Those whose investments exceeded that threshold would receive interim payments of no more than 1 million lira per investor in each fund, according to the board’s announcement in October.
The crisis was also linked to a decline in Turkish stocks; Reuters said its fallout pushed the market into a bear market, and the main index posted its worst monthly performance since 2008 in September. This development extended the fund crisis beyond arrangements for returning investors’ money to the performance of the broader market. Published accounts do not specify the size of the decline or the index’s movement on the day Kavcıoğlu announced his resignation. Nor do the sources link the resignation to a specific market move on November 11. September’s performance is cited here as background to the crisis fallout that preceded the resignation announcement.
Official warnings about manipulation preceded the outbreak of the crisis by months. In November 2025, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said authorities knew manipulation was taking place through certain funds. Reuters quoted him as saying: "We know that these manipulations are carried out particularly through certain funds." The minister added at the time that regulatory loopholes would be addressed. The sector had grown significantly before the liquidation decisions: assets in the portfolio-management industry reached $329 billion in August 2026, up from $246 billion a year earlier, according to Capital Markets Board data cited by Reuters. The figures place the crisis in a sector whose assets expanded over the same period leading up to the liquidation measures.
The measures also reached public figures. The Associated Press reported the detention of former minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya on suspicion of involvement in a stock-price manipulation scandal. The agency said she was detained late Thursday ahead of a possible trial. The announced charges, according to the report, include membership in a criminal organization and violating Turkey’s Capital Markets Law. These remain allegations and judicial proceedings; the agency’s report did not mention a conviction. The detention case is part of the broader investigation into manipulation linked to the funds.
In the fund-liquidation process, the Capital Markets Board said the interim payment cap was 1 million lira per investor in each fund, based on net investment after settlement. The limit applies separately to each fund, according to the board’s statement, rather than to an investor’s combined holdings across the funds covered. Reuters says investors with eligible investments below 1 million lira will receive all amounts due to them. The liquidation settlement itself is scheduled to take six months. Completion of that process is the next announced milestone for affected investors, alongside the continuing fallout from the investigations.