Former type Bank Founded 1888 Headquarters Istanbul, Turkey | Industry Banking Defunct 2 July 2001 Products Financial Services | |
İnterbank A.Ş is a defunct Turkish bank. Founded in 1888 in Selanik as the Selanik Bankası T.A.Ş., it moved to Istanbul in 1912 and was renamed Uluslararası Endüstri ve Ticaret Bankası in 1969. It was privatized in 1978, and renamed Interbank A.Ş. in 1990 after it was taken over by Çukurova Holding. Çukurova sold its majority stake to Cavit Çağlar's Nergis Holding in 1996. It was taken over by the government's TMSF on 7 January 1999, merged with Etibank, and went into liquidation on 2 July 2001.
In June 1999 prosecutors alleged that in 1998 Interbank had transferred over $650m to Nergis Holding companies - far in excess of legal limits for intra-group transfers. The total amount owed by Nergis to Interbank was said to be over $1.1bn. In 2004 Çağlar and others associated with Nergis were sentenced to three years ten months for bank fraud relating to Interbank. He had initially been acquitted in 2002, but the government appealed, and reversed the acquittal.