Turkey's participation banking sector is about to grow from nine retail banks to eleven. Both newcomers hold full BDDK licenses, both are TKBB members, and neither had a single product a retail customer could open when we reviewed them in August 2026. That last fact matters, because press coverage of both banks reads as if they are already operating. They are not. Here is the actual regulatory record, what each bank says it will be, and the specific things worth watching at launch.
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Adil Katilim: licensed, capitalized, invisible
Adil Katilim received its BDDK establishment permit on 23 May 2024 (decision 10914) as a digital participation bank with 3 billion lira in founding capital, double what Hayat Finans and TOM Bank were founded with. Its operating license followed on 11 September 2025 (decision 11267, published 20 September 2025), and it became the TKBB's tenth member. The founders on the regulatory record are Ali Emre Balli, Murat Yonac, Ozberk Cetinkaya, Ali Pasli and Fahri Akcan.
At our review, nearly a year after licensing, the app was still in pre-launch: no product pages, no participation account terms, no fee tariff, and, notably, no published Advisory Committee names. That last gap is the one we would watch most closely. Every operating participation bank in Turkey publishes its committee roster, and several publish member biographies and meeting counts. Until Adil Katilim names its scholars, there is no way to evaluate the governance behind the brand.
Iktisat Katilim: the savings-finance industry builds a bank
Iktisat Katilim is the strategically interesting one. It is 99.9 percent owned by Katilimevim Tasarruf Finansman, the Borsa Istanbul-listed savings-finance company within Pusula Holding, the group whose brands include Katilimevim and Birevim, the leaders of Turkey's interest-free save-to-buy industry. The establishment permit came on 12 December 2024 (decision 11037), the operating license on 26 February 2026 (decision 11424, published 4 March 2026), with 10 billion lira in capital, the largest founding base of the new wave. It is the TKBB's eleventh member.
Unlike the app-only newcomers, Iktisat Katilim has announced a hybrid model: a branch network integrated with digital channels, a corporate financing focus on manufacturing, defense and technology, and full retail participation banking with customer products targeted from the second half of 2026. This is the first Turkish bank born from the tasarruf finansman industry, and it arrives with a ready-made customer base of households already saving toward homes and cars in interest-free contracts.
Why these launches matter for savers
- Competition on splits: Hayat Finans opened the digital era by printing a 70/30 FX split and a 99 percent top TL tier. New entrants that want deposits will have to compete with printed numbers, which pressures the whole sector toward disclosure.
- A fifth digital option: Adil Katilim enters a crowded segment against Hayat's printed rates, TOM's A101 cash network, and the incumbents' own apps. Its niche is genuinely unclear, which is why its product design will be revealing.
- The savings-finance bridge: watch whether Iktisat Katilim offers bridge products for existing Katilimevim contract holders. The overlap between bank-grade BDDK governance and the aggressive commercial culture of the savings-finance industry is the key open question.
- Committee composition: both banks must operate Advisory Committees under the BDDK's 2019 communique. Who they appoint, and whether they publish more than names, will signal how seriously each takes the governance layer.
How the newcomers stack up against the incumbents
| Bank | Founding capital | Model | Licensed | Retail status at Aug 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hayat Finans | TRY 1.5 billion | Digital only | March 2023 | Live since August 2023 |
| TOM Bank | TRY 1.5 billion | Digital plus A101 cash network | March 2023 | Live |
| Adil Katilim | TRY 3 billion | Digital only | September 2025 | Pre-launch, no products |
| Iktisat Katilim | TRY 10 billion | Branch plus digital hybrid | February 2026 | Announced for H2 2026 |
The capital numbers tell a story on their own. Adil Katilim enters with double the founding capital of the 2023 digital wave, and Iktisat Katilim with nearly seven times it. Regulators have clearly raised the bar for new entrants, and the backers have accepted it. That is rational: the easy digital niches are taken. Hayat Finans owns the printed-rates story, TOM Bank owns cash access through A101 stores, and the big six all run capable apps. A newcomer has to buy its way into relevance with better splits, better financing terms or a genuinely new product category, and all three cost balance sheet.
What we are not saying
We are not saying either bank is troubled. Licensing by the BDDK is a serious, multi-year process, and both cleared it with capital to spare. Media coverage around Adil Katilim's founders included questions about ownership connections, which the individuals named have denied; we note the coverage exists and leave it there. The honest position is simpler: there is nothing to evaluate yet. No splits, no fees, no committee minutes, no icazet. Our product database carries both banks as registry-only entries with zero products by design, and our Halal Money Index does not grade what does not exist.
The bottom line
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If you need a participation account today, choose among the nine banks that actually operate; our bank account comparison covers all of them, and our state of play overview explains how the sector fits together. Revisit Adil Katilim when its app leaves pre-launch, and Iktisat Katilim when the announced second-half 2026 retail launch actually ships products. When either publishes terms, splits and a committee roster, we will review them against the same standard we hold everyone else to: print the numbers, name the scholars, and let the product compete.
