Mehmet Ali Akben, Chairman of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA), said: “To revive business in the jewelry sector, we will make a regulation that will allow 4 credit card installments for ornament, jewelry and gem products that require craftsmanship.”
In a statement to an AA reporter, Akben recalled that until August last year, gold sales could be made in 4 installments with personal credit cards.
Recalling that they removed the installment option for credit cards in the jewelry sector with the regulation they made in August 2018, Akben said they would make a new regulation for the jewelry sector.
Mehmet Ali Akben stated that, to revive business in the jewelry sector, they would introduce 4 credit card installments for ornament, jewelry and gem products that require craftsmanship.
Emphasizing that installments cannot be offered for products such as quarter gold coins, gram gold and gold bars, Akben added that the new regulation will benefit both consumers and the sector.
So how will this decision be managed?
A jeweler sells both gold that requires craftsmanship and gold that does not.
Can a jeweler sell a quarter gold coin and process it in 4 installments as if it were a crafted gold sale?
Yes, it can. There is also no system control to prevent this. (Just as the sale of alcohol, which is prohibited for participation banks, cannot be caught systematically when it is sold in supermarkets.)
How will the BRSA detect jewelers who do not follow this rule? Suppose it does detect them; what kind of sanctions will it apply? What will be the impact of these sanctions on banks?
These questions are open for now. No regulatory request regarding the decision has yet been sent to banks. Let's wait and see the effect of the decision and how it will be implemented.
Frankly, there seems to be no solution other than leaving the decision to the jewelers' discretion.
