Hakan Ateş, the chief executive of Turkish private lender Denizbank, has stepped down after 27 years at the helm and is due to be succeeded by Recep Baştuğ, a former BBVA executive, a person familiar with the matter told Daily Sabah on Friday.
Ateş served as the CEO of the United Arab Emirates-based lender Emirates NBD's Türkiye unit since 1997. Ateş, 65, is credited with leading Denizbank through major growth phases, including its acquisition by Dubai's largest lender in 2019.
He will be replaced by Baştuğ, ex-chief executive of BBVA's Turkish subsidiary, Garanti Bankası, the source asking not to be identified told Daily Sabah.
Baştuğ will officially assume his new role as of Jan. 1, 2025, pending necessary approvals from Türkiye's banking regulator, BDDK, the Bloomberg News reported, citing a source.
Baştuğ sat at the helm of Garanti Bankası for five years before stepping down earlier in 2024.
Ateş's departure follows last month's indictment for his alleged role in a ponzi scheme targeting high-profile football players. He has repeatedly denied the allegation.
The court recently returned the indictment to prosecutors, citing insufficient evidence.
The indictment was related to a previously opened case on the alleged defrauding of players, including Arda Turan, a former Barcelona midfielder, and Uruguayan Galatasaray goalkeeper Muslera Fernando, by a former Denizbank branch manager. Denizbank has denied any role in wrongdoing.
Under the case opened last year, prosecutors sought a 216-year prison term for Seçil Erzan, the former branch manager. According to last year's indictment, Erzan defrauded some $44 million from 18 individuals, promising substantial returns on their investments in a "secret special fund." There are 24 complainants in the latest indictment.
Erzan convinced them to invest in the fund in part by telling them that former Turkish national team coach Fatih Terim had also invested, according to that indictment.
She partly paid some of the returns to some of the investors, but she failed to pay any returns or principal money to most of the investors, according to the indictment.
Erzan has been jailed as the case against her continues.
Denizbank was acquired by the Emirates NBD from Russia's Sberbank in 2019 for about $2.7 billion.
Deniz was Türkiye's ninth-largest bank, with assets totaling TL 1.33 trillion ($38.3 billion) as of the end of September, according to data from the Turkish banking association, TBB.
