Turkish Bank Regulator Is Said to Reject Rota as Odea's New CEO

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey’s banking regulator rejected the appointment of Kerim Rota as chief executive officer of the local unit of Lebanon’s Bank Audi SAL, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The watchdog, known as BDDK, didn’t give reasons to Odea Bank AS for declining the choice of CEO, said the people, asking not to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public. Odea declined to comment, while BDDK didn’t immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

Rota last month resigned from Akbank TAS, where he worked as executive vice president in charge of treasury, to replace Huseyin Ozkaya, who stepped down as Odea CEO after his contract expired. Chief Financial Officer Naim Hakim is acting in the position until a formal appointment is made.

Bank Audi set up its Turkish bank in 2012. It joined an industry in which the 10 largest banks hold about 85 percent of total assets and 90 percent of loans, leaving smaller banks like Odea in a cut-throat competition for customers, deposits and market share.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kerim Karakaya in Istanbul at kkarakaya2@bloomberg.net, Asli Kandemir in Istanbul at akandemir@bloomberg.net, Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul at bharvey11@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Vernon Wessels, Paul Armstrong

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