ANKARA – The Ministry of Treasury and Finance’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) has published an amendment to its General Communiqué, providing a legal infrastructure for the identification of payment and electronic money institutions.
Turkey is also preparing a legal framework for crypto assets.
With the Communiqué (Sequence No. 25) amending the MASAK General Communiqué (Sequence No. 19) published in the November 4 issue of the Official Gazette, payment and electronic money institutions will carry out remote identification in establishing a continuous business relationship with their customers within the scope of the methods and measures specified in the Communiqué on Information Systems of Payment and Electronic Money Institutions and Data Sharing Services of Payment Service Providers in the Field of Payment Services.
The FATF (Financial Action Task Force for the Prevention of Money Laundering), established within the OECD, evaluates countries within the scope of international anti-money laundering criteria and classifies them into gray and black lists. Turkey was on the gray list because it did not have systems in place to meet the FATF’s criteria in some transactions.
There are opinions that Turkey’s position creates hesitation in the transactions of banks and other international financial institutions towards Turkey. Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, in his speech at the budget presentation at the Parliamentary Plan and Budget Commission on November 1, said that there was one item left in the action plan for Turkey to leave the gray list and that they were in the process of submitting a legal regulation on crypto assets to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
