The amendment made by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey in the Communiqué on the International Bank Account Number entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette dated 05.08.2021 and numbered 31559.

The amendment made by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (“TCMB”) to the Communiqué on the International Bank Account Number (“Communiqué”) will now enable the establishment of an International Bank Account Number (“IBAN”) by payment and electronic money institutions.

The purpose of the Communiqué was changed to “determining the principles and procedures regarding the application of the international bank account number by the payment service providers”. In addition to this, the definition of “payment service provider” was added to the scope of Article 3 of the Communiqué titled “Definitions”. Accordingly, the phrase "Bank Code" in the old communiqué was changed to "Payment Service Provider Code".

With the amended article 5 of the Communiqué, it has been determined that payment service providers other than banks can also create IBANs for customer accounts subject to money transfer. Banks are required to create an IBAN for each customer account subject to money transfer, in line with the principles specified in the Communiqué, and notify the account holders of the IBAN information. The payment service provider codes to be used while creating the IBAN will be determined by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.

Payment service providers other than banks are not required to create an IBAN for customer accounts subject to money transfer, unless there is a contrary provision in the system rules of the payment system in which they participate as a participant within the scope of the Law No. 6493.

In addition, payment service providers that create IBANs are required to show the IBAN in the documents they will create for their customers regarding the accounts subject to money transfer in written and electronic media and on the documents with the account number on them.

As a result, the ability to create IBANs, which was limited to banks, has now been opened to a wider financial area with the inclusion of other payment service providers, allowing players in the fintech world to integrate into both local and international financial flows faster and compatibly.