With the Regulation on Payment Services and Electronic Money Issuance and Payment Service Providers (“Regulation”), and the Communiqué on Information Systems of Payment and Electronic Money Institutions and Data Sharing Services in the Field of Payment Services Providers (“Communiqué”) published in the Official Gazette dated December 1, 2021, and numbered 31676, payment institutions and electronic money institutions are defined and the obligations regarding these institutions are regulated.

With the Regulation on Amending the Regulation on Payment Services and Electronic Money Issuance and Payment Service Providers, and Amending the Communiqué on Information Systems of Payment and Electronic Money Institutions and Data Sharing Services in the Field of Payment Services Providers Communiqué published in the Official Gazette dated February 28, 2023, and numbered 32118, the transition periods in some provisions regarding the compliance obligations in the temporary first articles of the Regulation and the Communiqué have been extended from  February 28, 2023, to April 30, 2023 (“Extension Date”).

As a result of the amendments, the extended liabilities of payment institutions and electronic money institutions are as follows:

Amended Regulation:

  • Institutions operating as of December 1, 2021, are obliged to comply with provisions that were not previously included.
  • Services made with prepaid tools that can only be used in the issuing institution’s store network as of December 1, 2021, in the purchase of a certain group of goods or services, or only in a certain service network as a result of an agreement and legal entities that provide these services are obliged to comply with the provisions of the Regulation (excluding the provisions regarding the protection of payment funds and the protection of funds collected against electronic money) until the Extension Date.
  • Payment service providers, which hold a payment account as of December 1, 2021, and are among the top ten participants in terms of the total number of payment transactions carried out in Bank Payment Systems in 2020, fulfill the obligations related to the necessary infrastructure to other authorized payment service providers requesting to be able to provide payment services by connecting to the Bankalararası Kart Merkezi A.Ş. until the Extension Date.
  • Data sharing services that technical requirements of which are determined by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (“Bank”) within the scope of the Regulation, may continue to be provided by using non-standard services until the Extension Date.
  • The provisions of this Regulation regarding obtaining an operating permit, equity and collateral liability, protection of payment funds, and protection of funds collected in return for electronic money shall be applied to whom applied for an operating permit before December 1, 2021. Legal entities who are granted permission to operate according to this provision are obliged to comply with the provisions of the Regulation that are not applied, and the provisions contained in the regulations are to be made by the Bank until the Extension Date at the latest.
  • Legal entities that provide services made with prepaid tools that can be used only in the own store network of the issuing institution, only in the purchase of a certain group of goods or services, or only in a certain service network as a result of an agreement, as of December 1, 2021, who granted permission to operate according to the Regulation are obliged to comply with the provisions of which they are exempt from the Regulation, and the provisions included in the regulations to be made by the Bank, until the Extension Date at the latest.

Amended Communiqué:

  • Institutions operating as of December 1, 2021, are obliged to comply with provisions that were not previously included.
  • Payment service providers that hold payment accounts as of December 1, 2021, and are among the top ten participants according to the total number of account payment transactions carried out in Bank Payment Systems in 2020, fulfill the obligations related to the necessary infrastructure to other authorized payment service providers requesting to be able to provide payment services by connecting to Account Service Provider (HHS) to BKM API Gateway until the Extension Period.
  • Data sharing services, the technical requirements of which are determined by the Bank, may continue to be provided by using non-standard services until the Extension Period.

Institutions that have not yet fulfilled the obligations specified in the Regulation and Communiqué and detailed above are expected to fulfill their obligations until April 30, 2023.

However, it should be noted that there is a possibility that the deadline for the above-mentioned liabilities may be extended by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.

Authors: Burak Özdağıstanli, Ebru Gümüş