Closed banks in Turkey and closure reasons

The aim of this study is to to determine closed national banks through Turkish Banking History, beginning from the Ottoman period, then to examine the closure reasons of these banks according to periodical changes and in comparison with bank closures abroad.In this study, national commercial and investment banks were examined and foreign banks were excluded from the research population. A descriptive method was used in the study and reasons and types of failures of closed banks had been surveyed chronologically. Firstly the banking history was re-divided into periods in accordance with bank closures and banks closed in these periods were analysed in parallel with economic and legal developments. Then, bank closures and closure reasons abroad were investigated particularly in developed countries, and a brief comparison was made with Turkish banking sector.Evaluating the resarch data obtained, types and reasons of bank closures in Turkey were tabulated and reported. The data were evaluated with respect to classified periods determined before and comparative analysis were made by considering abroad cases. Finally periodical differences were reported and reasons of variations were interpreted.According to the results of the study, similar to countries abroad, banking closures and failures are found to heavily increase during economic crises. Besides with financial risks triggered by economic crises, fraudulence of bank owners and poor management caused bank failures or closures particularly after 1980. Suggestions are presented for the need of further research on banks closed before 1930, for which the data is limited or not available.