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The U.S. federal court handling the criminal case against Türkiye’s state-owned lender Halkbank has set a new status conference for March 3, the first clear step forward after an earlier hearing was suddenly canceled.
Following the development, Halkbank shares listed on Borsa Istanbul climbed 4% at Wednesday’s open as the court’s move to set a new hearing date eased uncertainty around the case.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in New York had originally set a status conference for Jan. 27 to address how the case would proceed but canceled the session at the last minute without announcing a replacement date.
The newly scheduled Mar. 3 conference sets the stage for the next step in the long-running case, which U.S. prosecutors filed in 2019, accusing Halkbank of helping Iran evade American sanctions.
The Turkish side has repeatedly argued that the state-owned lender should be immune from criminal prosecution in U.S. courts, but judges have allowed the case to proceed.
After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Halkbank’s appeal in October, the case went back to federal court in New York for further proceedings.
The case has also overlapped with diplomatic contacts between Türkiye and the U.S. for years. After he visited the White House in late September, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said U.S. President Donald Trump assured him that "the problem is over for us."
Established in 1933 and majority-owned by Türkiye Wealth Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Halkbank ranks as Türkiye’s fourth-largest lender, with total assets of ₺4.49 trillion ($113.5 billion).
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