Turkiye Revokes Bank Mellat's Istanbul Licence — SkimNews
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- Turkiye's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) revoked the operating licence of Bank Mellat's Istanbul central branch, publishing the decision in the Official Gazette on Saturday under a banking law clause that allows revocation when continued operation risks depositors' rights or financial system stability.
- Bank Mellat has faced years of Western sanctions over alleged ties to Tehran's nuclear programme; the United States reimposed sanctions after unilaterally withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018.
- Bank Mellat was hit by further US and Gulf sanctions in 2019 after being named among 25 entities linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
- The Turkish notice did not cite US measures or specify any operational issues behind the revocation.
- Earlier this month, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Turkish investment bank Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi and two subsidiaries for allegedly facilitating "tens of millions of dollars" in transactions for the IRGC-Qods Force; Golden Global Bank has denied the accusations.
Why it matters: Turkiye's revocation cuts a long-sanctioned Iranian lender out of a key regional financial hub, yet the Turkish notice avoided citing US measures, leaving the cited grounds — risk to depositors or financial stability — deliberately opaque. For Bank Mellat, already blacklisted by the US and Gulf states since 2019 over IRGC links, losing its Istanbul branch removes a longstanding cross-border foothold without any Turkish explanation linking it to those same designations.
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