Capital Markets Board Changes Rules for Remote Customer Acceptance

With a new communiqué published by the Capital Markets Board, the conditions for foreign nationals and companies registered in the trade registry to become customers through remote identity verification have been reorganized.

Passport Obligation for Foreign Customers

The use of ICAO 9303 compliant and NFC-enabled passports has been made mandatory in identity verification for foreigners. Transactions cannot be conducted if the data does not match, and those who become customers via passports will be included in the high-risk group.

The process will be carried out via video call by specially trained personnel, and artificial intelligence applications will be utilized for liveness testing and photo matching.

Address Verification and Money Transfer Restrictions

Foreign customers will be required to verify their address information via a residence document or an invoice belonging to the last three months within a maximum of three months. Money and crypto asset transfers, as well as wire transfers, will not be allowed until address verification is completed.

Inflows and outflows of funds to accounts will be made exclusively through SWIFT from the person's own bank account abroad. Customer information and portfolio sizes will be reported to MASAK every three months.

MERSİS and Ultimate Beneficial Owner Condition for Companies

In the remote identity verification of companies registered in the trade registry, representation authorization will be verified through MERSİS, the Trade Registry Gazette, and the databases of the Revenue Administration.

Personnel will check the notarized circular of signature when deemed necessary, and it will be mandatory to uncover the ultimate beneficial owner of the legal entity. Transactions will be terminated in suspicious cases.