Ferit Şahenk

Garanti Bank, one of Turkey's biggest private lenders, announced on Sept. 19 that its board chairman Ferit Şahenk had resigned.

Şahenk has been replaced by deputy chairman Suleyman Sözen, the bank said in a statement to the Istanbul stock exchange. Jorge Saenz-Azcunaga Carranza has been appointed as the new deputy chair. 

Spanish lender Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has acquired 41.79 million shares in Garanti Bank from Doğuş Holding and Doguş Araştırma Geliştirme ve Müşavirlik Hizmetleri at a cost of 7.95 Turkish Liras per share.

Spanish lender BBVA has become the leading shareholder in Garanti, Turkey?s largest bank in terms of market capitalization, the companies said on July 27 in a joint press conference. 

After completing the transaction announced last November to acquire an additional 14.89 percent holding, the BBVA Group now owns to 39.9 percent of Garanti.

Ali Fuat Yılmazer, a former Istanbul police intelligence chief who has been under arrest since July 23 as part of an illegal wiretapping case, confirmed in a Dec. 4 statement released by his lawyer that some 160 high-profile people were wiretapped between 2008 and 2009.