Under the Law on Payment Services and Electronic Money Institutions, the organs, duties and powers, and the working principles, procedures and rules of the Payment and Electronic Money Institutions Association of Turkey have been determined.
Presidential Decision No. 2678 on the statute of the Payment and Electronic Money Institutions Association of Turkey has entered into force. According to the decision published in the Official Gazette, the organs, duties and powers, and the working principles, procedures and rules of the Association have been determined.
The Association's organs consist of the general assembly, the board of directors, the audit board and the disciplinary committee, while members will be represented in the Association's organs by the chairman of the board, a board member, the general manager or a deputy general manager.
Payment institutions and e-money institutions operating in Turkey will be required to apply for membership of the Association within 1 month from the date they obtain their operating license, while PTT will be accepted as a member if it applies for membership.
Payment institutions and e-money institutions that were operating before the statute entered into force will be required to become members within 1 month following the date the Association begins operating, and until the Association's organs are formed, membership applications will be concluded by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. The Minister of Treasury and Finance will execute the provisions of the statute.
The establishment of the Payment and Electronic Money Institutions Association of Turkey will undoubtedly be a positive development for all stakeholders in the sector. The positive reception of the decision by all stakeholders will also provide an important foundation for existing fintech startups in Turkey and for new ones that will emerge.
The main task of the Payment and Electronic Money Institutions Association of Turkey will be to develop the sector and remove obstacles. In addition, it will carry out important duties such as taking the necessary measures to prevent unfair competition among members, determining the rules and conditions members must follow in their advertisements, and enabling joint projects among members.
Under the decision, the Association, headquartered in Istanbul, will serve the purpose of “facilitating professional activities by meeting the common needs of its members, protecting professional discipline and ethics so that honesty and trust prevail in their relations with one another, their representatives and customers, ensuring that members work in solidarity, that their economic interests are protected and that they develop in professional matters, and ensuring that a competitive environment among members is preserved, unfair competition is prevented and the payments field is developed”.
Thanks to the Arbitration Board to be established within the Payment and Electronic Money Institutions Association of Turkey to resolve disputes between members and consumers, consumer problems will be resolved quickly and consistently, and consumer confidence will be ensured. Because the Board's decisions will also ensure consistency in practice, they will create predictability and compliance cost advantages for fintechs as well. The Association also has the authority to impose warnings, reprimands and administrative fines of up to TRY 10 thousand on its members.
Commenting on the matter, Odeal CEO Fevzi Gungor said, “This is a decision that will open the way for the sector. First of all, it is very important that all institutions in the sector come together on one platform. It is also a cornerstone for the sector because the CBRT's general approach is to make sector regulations together with the sector. Finally, the sector also needed a forum with a legal basis for self-regulation. It fills this gap very appropriately.”
Mobilexpress CEO Emre Guzer also said,
“Everything we dreamed of and started working on 9 years ago is entering our lives this year. Following the transfer of Law No. 6493 to the CBRT, which has been carrying out serious work in recent years, particularly on open banking and PSD2, the establishment of the Payment and Electronic Money Institutions Association of Turkey will bring fundamental changes. First of all, in a world where intermediaries are disappearing one by one, because of the inadequacy of existing regulations we could not build anything beyond payment institutions that could only act as intermediaries or brokers. Although I see that we missed many opportunities in this respect when I look back, all of these opportunities now await us and everyone we touch.”
Details of the relevant decision are available at the link below:
