AKBANK NV - does anybody have experience of them?

fisher-man_2

I see that AKBANK are still offering 6.3% fixed for 1 year with interest paid away monthly - the account is guaranteed up to €100,000 by the Dutch government.

Does anybody have this account or any info on it or this bank?

Nagiw

fisher-man wrote: »

I see that AKBANK are still offering 6.3% fixed for 1 year with interest paid away monthly - the account is guaranteed up to €100,000 by the Dutch government.

Does anybody have this account or any info on it or this bank?

Not had any experience but it's profile reminds me a lot of Icesave (of which I have first hand experience!).
It's actually Turkish, has only average liquidity ratings and doesn't subscribe to the banking code.
Hmmmm - it's your choice bu then I'm a bit biased!

:think:

meunier

I believe the rates have dropped, but look at their site.

Here was the Moneyfacts review, which from a protection perspective seems as safe as ING --- It's a difficult situation -- especially in light of the RBS announcement yesterday --- Is any bank safe? What is Safe? Perhaps we all (e.g., 'the world') need to 'go figure'!:

How safe is... Akbank

This is Money
Created 14 October 2008 | Last updated:
19 November 2008, 10:34am
Fitch rating for Akbank: BB (Oct 14: outlook – stable, affirmed on Oct 10)

Share price over one year for Akbank: down 35¾%
CDS rate for Akbank: unavailable
Akbank, a subsidiary of the largest commercial bank in Turkey of the same name, arrived on our shores in May 2006 and has been gaining increasing prominence since then in some best-buy tables.
Owned by the powerful Turkish Sabanci family and Citigroup, the bank posted impressive 2007 returns, but filed a 34% fall in net profits between April and June.
Fitch ratings recently highlighted (Nov 18) that the Turkish banking sector is becoming increasingly exposed to the global downturn through its financing of Turky's current account deficit through borrowing. However the ratings agency also pointed out these banks do not have any exposure to US sub-prime mortgages and are well funded from High Street savers' money.
Analyst FinansInvest (Oct 7) downgraded the Akbank parent bank from 'neutral' to 'underperform', but this is less to do with the bank itself and more related to the slowing Turkish economy.
In fact, any decrease in the value of Turkish banks is due to the ripple effect from crumbling institutions in the West rather than any inherent problems. Analysts generally regard the nation's banks as being well covered by savers' deposits, having no toxic debt and good foreign currency reserves.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said in a note last month that Turkey's banking sector benefited from good liquidity and diversified funding.
Barclays Capital said recently that Turkish banks have learned their lesson since the Turkish economic crisis of 2001 and have been conservatively managing their books ever since. Akbank's conservatism is shown by the amount of savings on its books relative to its loans: the bank's loan book only totals approximately 90% of its savings. In contrast, Iceland's Glitnir bank had loans totaling approximately 270% of deposits before it was nationalised by the Icelandic Government.
Savers should have relatively no worries with this bank as it is also a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, although it operates under a less attractive 'passport' system like ING and Icesave whereby any compensation paid is split between schemes in the UK and the host country.
As the bank's European headquarters is based in Holland, savers would receive €100,000 compensation (approximately £77,000) from the Dutch compensation scheme, the same as customers of ING Direct.

Nagiw

More recently.....

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLI61011520081118

Why risk it for 6%?:huh:

eeja

Spotted this today should anyone be interested.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc is not planning on selling its stake in Turkish lender Akbank, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.
Shares in Akbank earlier fell on reports that Citigroup may sell parts of the company. The company's shares closed down 3 percent at 3.48 lira.
Citigroup has a 20 percent stake in Akbank. (Reporting by Megan Davies)