Why is a
bank account needed ?
According to
the current regulations, any monetary transaction which exceeds YTL
8,000 (approximately £ 3,000) has to be made through banks,
private financial agencies or Post Office (PTT).
Making your
payments through the systems mentioned above will enable you to
document your property-buying transactions. In case of any dispute or
undesirable events, you will be able to make use of those records.
Which
currency should be used?
You can make your payment in GBP, USD, EURO,
New Turkish Lira (YTL)-the local currency- or the other convertible
currencies sold or purchased by the Central Bank of Turkey. If you want
to carry out your transactions in YTL, then you are advised to convert
your currency into YTL at Banks, Private Finance Organisations or
authorised change bureaus in Turkey (You can find daily indicative
exchange rates at www.tcmb.gov.tr)
Some foreign nationals prefer setting all price
terms in the purchase&sale contracts in New Turkish Lira so as
not to encounter any tax evasion complications due to a possible
conversion error.
Types
of bank accounts
YTL-denominated and FX-denominated accounts: You can open an account in New Turkish Lira
(YTL) or in any currency convertible in Turkey, including Sterling.
There are no limits on the number of FX-based accounts.
Savings (depository) accounts:
If you invest in a savings account at a bank, at the end of the savings
term, you earn an interest on the money you deposited.
If you do not wait for the end-of the savings
term and withdraw your money in your account before the term ends, no
interest is paid to you and you only take back the principal.
However, many banks in Turkey automatically set
another savings term if an account holder does not withdraw his/her
money at the end of a savings term. What banks do is they consider the
money which accumulated in the account as the new principal and they
apply the current interest rates to this new principal. Unless the
account holder withdraws the accumulated money, the period renewal is
repeated at the end of each savings term.
Thus, if you plan to open a savings account,
please make sure whether the bank provides the automatic savings-term
renewal.
Savings accounts can be either in YTL or in any
convertible foreign exchange. Savings term starts from 1 month and may
stretch to more than a year.
As of August 2005, the average nominal interest
rate for YTL-denominated savings accounts is around 16% whereas those
for FX-based accounts are close to the rates in the countries where the
currency in question is used.
Current
(depository) accounts: these are the accounts in which
you deposit your money and from which you can withdraw it at any time
partially or fully. No interest (or very little interest) accrues on
current accounts.
Current accounts can be either YTL-denominated
or FX-denominated.
Opening
a bank account in Turkey
You can open accounts at Banks in Turkey in
your own name. All you need to do this is just to have a tax number
from a local tax office, which takes only few minutes, and then to
submit it and a copy of your passport as well to a Bank branch you want
to use.
Privacy
of accounts
The strict banking regulations in Turkey, any
body cannot withdraw money from your account and any body (except
Courts of Turkey in case of legal inquiries) cannot learn the details
of your bank account unless;
• you provide the relevant person with
a valid Power of Attorney, or
• you open a joint account on which the other party has a
right to withdraw money.
Opening
a bank account in Turkey when you are in the UK
If you want a bank account in Turkey to be
opened when you are in the UK, then you
Using
your UK cheques in Turkey
You can use your cheque book provided by your
bank in the UK for the payments to be made in Turkey.
However, comparing the cost of
‘transferring money from your account in the UK to an account
in Turkey’ to ‘commission fee to be charged on your
UK cheque by Turkish banks’ may be of great importance.
