Developments in Open Banking and Digital Wallets

Recent Developments

The Regulation Amending the Regulation on Payment Services and Electronic Money Issuance and Payment Service Providers (the “Regulation“), prepared by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (the “CBRT“), was published in the Official Gazette on March 28, 2025 (the “Amending Regulation“). You can access the Amending Regulation here.

What’s New?

Developments in Open Banking

Under the Regulation, all payment service providers holding payment accounts that may be related to payment-initiation and account information services, which are considered among open banking products, were required to connect to Bankalararası Kart Merkezi A.Ş., and to provide the required systems and support to all other authorized payment service providers that requested the offering of open banking services related to these accounts, and to take necessary measures to prevent unauthorized provision of open banking services by March 31, 2025.

According to the Amendment Regulation, all payment service providers holding payment accounts that may be related to open banking services will no longer be required to comply with these regulations. Instead, payment service providers that hold these payment accounts and also provide their clients with direct online access to payment accounts will be subject to these regulations. Therefore, payment service providers that do not provide their clients with direct online access will not be subject to these obligations.

The Amendment Regulation also stipulates that a payment service provider must be a participant in the Instant and Continuous Transfer of Funds System (“FAST“) to be subject to these obligations.

For institutions that are not participants in FAST, those that are among the top ten institutions in terms of payment volume, calculated based on transactions from the previous calendar year, will be subject to these obligations.

Under the Amendment Regulation, the deadline for compliance with these obligations has been extended to December 31, 2025.

Digital Wallet Regulations Compliance Deadline Extended Again

On October 7, 2023, the amendment to the Regulation introduced important provisions for the use and promotion of the digital wallet service in the field of payments. According to the amendment, it was stipulated that (i) persons offering digital wallet services without an operating license before this date were required to apply to the CBRT to obtain the necessary licenses, and (ii) payment service providers offering digital wallet services were required to comply with the introduced regulations.