Turkey's Capital Markets Board has approved the liquidation of six funds managed by Golden Global Portfoy. This decision comes after the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi and two of its subsidiaries earlier this month due to their alleged involvement in Iran-related activities. The affected funds include Golden Global's short-term lease certificates, gold and money market participation funds, and three venture capital investment funds.
This action by the Turkish regulator highlights a broader period of instability in Turkey's financial markets. Just prior to this, Tera Portfoy Yonetimi AS, another Turkish asset manager, announced that two of its funds, with combined assets of 366 billion liras (approximately $7.5 billion), failed to meet redemption requests. The affected funds were the Tera Portfoy Money Market Fund (TP2) and the Tera Portfoy Equity Intensive Fund (THF), making Tera Portfoy the second Turkish asset manager to report such defaults this week.
The ongoing fund redemption woes have significantly impacted the Turkish stock market. The Borsa Istanbul 100 Index fell as much as 5.7% on the news, extending its two-day decline to 6.9%. This puts the index on track for its largest two-day drop since March 2025. Nearly all stocks in the benchmark index experienced declines, with Destek Finans Faktoring AS falling by 10% before the index trimmed its losses to trade 3% lower. These events underscore growing concerns about liquidity stress within Turkey's fund industry. Additionally, earlier in September, Pusula Portfoy Yonetimi AS reported that two of its funds on the Tefas electronic trading platform shrunk by over 90%, from 115 billion liras to below 8 billion liras, following new regulatory caps.
