Turkey is seeking the return of large gains tied to an investment-fund crisis involving 455,758 investors, while officials report that 40.8 billion lira has been paid after regulators ordered 131 funds into liquidation.
In a joint Bloomberg HT-Habertürk broadcast Tuesday, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said officials had identified people and companies that gained from market-disrupting activity. He disclosed no names or total. The first voluntary recovery requests would target gains of at least 10 million lira after inflation adjustment, he said. If the money is not returned, the Ministry of Justice would pursue legal procedures.
Şimşek said authorities would seek assets he described as unlawfully transferred from funds, including personal assets belonging to people who acted together. The Capital Markets Board (SPK) ordered 131 funds managed by seven portfolio management companies into liquidation Sept. 17. The regulator later counted 455,758 unique investors across the funds, citing Central Securities Depository of Türkiye records.
By Tuesday, 66 funds had completed liquidation, Şimşek said. He reported 40.8 billion lira paid to 45,747 accounts and said equity-fund investors had received about 58% of their holdings’ Sept. 17 value. The SPK’s interim-payment procedure sets a limit of 1 million lira per investor, per fund, based on verified net investment, and prioritizes money-market funds. Şimşek said small investors would be prioritized in further interim payments.
A bill covering additional payments had cleared Parliament’s Plan and Budget Committee, Hürriyet Daily News reported. Şimşek gave no date for its passage.
Reuters linked inflows to investors seeking returns above inflation during a period of tight monetary policy. It reported that some fund managers warned they could not meet redemption payments. Separately, Reuters said some funds concentrated holdings in a single stock or asset, and reported that some traded less-liquid shares of recently listed small companies.
MSCI on Oct. 15 froze increases to foreign inclusion factors or share counts, additions to the Turkey Investable Market Index, and upward moves between size segments for Turkish equities. It cited concerns about possible coordinated trading through fund holdings. EconoTimes previously reported on the index restrictions.
MSCI will assess progress by June 2027. If it finds the response inadequate, it may consult investors on moving its Turkey indexes from Emerging Market to Frontier or Standalone Market status. It has not announced a reclassification.
