Announcement Regarding Changes on Payment Services

“Regulation Amending the Regulation on Payment Services and the Issuance of Electronic Money and Payment Service Providers” (the “Regulation”) has been published in the Offical Gazette dated 7 October 2023 and numbered 32332 by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (the “CBRT”).

With the scope of relevant Regulation, the term "digital wallet" has been defined for the first time in the regulations about payments, and general principles for providing digital wallet services have been determined. Thus, the conditions for the provision of digital wallet services have been regulated, paving the way for the widespread use of digital wallets.

According to the Regulation, payment service providers are required to provide services to parties under the same conditions and fee schedule when their infrastructure services and payment services are controlled by a payment service provider or used by other payment service providers.

Additionally, this Regulation outlines the procedures and principles to be followed by payment service providers that utilize the infrastructure of another payment service provider to enable the sale of goods/services to merchants through a payment method falling within the scope of payment services.

CBRT has stipulated the obligations, exceptions, and deadlines that payment service providers who do not provide direct online access to their customers for their payment accounts must fulfill through this Regulation.

The Regulation supports CBRT's policies aimed at developing the digital payment ecosystem, facilitating secure payments, and reducing the use of cash.

In general, new definitions have been introduced and various words/sentences have been added and new arrangements have been made by the Regulation.

Article 23 of this Regulation will enter the force on 31 March 2024, while the rest of the articles of the Regulation has entered the force on the date of its publication, effective as of 7 October 2023, and you may find the detailed provisions  of the Regulation in the Official Gazette.