Şahap Kavcıoğlu steps down as head of Turkey's banking regulator amid the investment fund investigation

The resignation

Şahap Kavcıoğlu, head of Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), left his post on the morning of 11 November. The news quickly spread across many outlets, including Sabah, Cumhuriyet, Diken, Sözcü, Habertürk, NTV, DW Türkçe and BBC Türkçe.

According to Diken, Kavcıoğlu linked his resignation to allegations made in recent days about the agency and about himself, and said he had asked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to relieve him of his duties.

“Following the allegations of recent days about the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency and about me, I have asked our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to relieve me of my duties, so that our institution is not damaged any further.”

Şahap Kavcıoğlu, Diken(translated)

Sözcü framed the departure differently: according to information the newspaper obtained, Kavcıoğlu was asked to leave. Both accounts agree that he is no longer at the head of the BDDK.

The link to the fund investigation

The resignation came under the shadow of the investment fund investigation that broke in mid-September and is being run by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. According to Diken, Kavcıoğlu had told Sözcü's İsmail Saymaz the same day that the BDDK had nothing to do with the fund affair.

In that conversation Kavcıoğlu said every bank has a portfolio management company, and that İktisat Katılım having one could not be grounds to blame the agency. He added that the bank's licence could be criticised, but that linking it to the fund was another matter. He also stressed that neither he, nor his family, nor anyone connected to him had money in the fund or on the stock market.

BBC Türkçe reported that BDDK Deputy Chairman Muhammet Erişen had also been arrested as part of the investigation.

Who is Kavcıoğlu

According to a biography compiled by Sözcü, Kavcıoğlu was born in Bayburt in 1967 and began his banking career as an assistant inspector at Esbank, later serving as a deputy general manager at Halkbank. He was elected an AKP member of parliament for Bayburt in the November 2015 election, and in August 2018 became deputy chairman of VakıfBank's board.

On 20 March 2021 he was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey by presidential decree. He held that post until 9 June 2023, when he was made head of the BDDK.

A business graduate of Dokuz Eylül University, Kavcıoğlu completed a master's degree and a doctorate at Marmara University's Institute of Banking and Insurance. He became an associate professor of macroeconomics in 2014 and a full professor in 2019, and has published books and articles on finance and banking.

In his resignation statement, Kavcıoğlu thanked President Erdoğan for entrusting him with these roles. No announcement has yet been made about the BDDK's new head.