Banks’ commissions and fees have been reduced. Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak announced that a new standard has been introduced for bank fees and commissions that affect both citizens and businesses. Minister Albayrak stated that the Central Bank and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) have implemented a standard fee structure for charges and commissions. According to the announcement, the number of different fees, commissions and expenses that can be charged to commercial customers has been reduced from 2,400 to 51, and for financial consumers from 20 to 16, representing a significant restriction.
Accordingly, the Central Bank’s communiqué regarding commercial customers and the BRSA’s regulation change for financial consumers were published in the Official Gazette. The BRSA communiqué and the Central Bank regulation published in the Official Gazette reorganize the commissions and fees charged to both financial consumers and commercial customers. Under the new rules, the number of fees, charges and commissions that can be applied to commercial customers has been cut from 2,400 to 51, and for financial consumers from 20 to 16. In 2014 the BRSA had already limited the number of fees and commissions that can be charged to financial consumers to 20; prior to that there was no such limit.
What Has Changed With the New Measures?
The standardization of bank commissions and fees makes it easier to compare costs across banks and increases transparency. Account maintenance and account opening fees charged to commercial customers have been eliminated. The new regulations significantly reduce fees tied to commercial credit use, credit allocation, early loan repayment, and EFT transactions. For example, where commercial loan usage fees could reach around 2%, the new limit caps that fee at 1% maximum. Upper limits have also been introduced for EFT fees for both commercial and retail (financial) customers.
New Fee Amounts for Commercial and Financial Consumers
Following the recent decision, the EFT fees charged through banks will depend on the transfer amount and are set as follows.
| EFT Fees | Up to 1,000 TL | 1,000 – 50,000 TL | 50,000 TL and Above |
| Mobile | 1 TL | 2 TL | 25 TL |
| Internet | 1 TL | 2 TL | 25 TL |
| Standing Order | 1 TL | 2 TL | 25 TL |
| ATM | 2 TL | 5 TL | 50 TL |
| Branch / Other | 5 TL | 10 TL | 100 TL |
The new minimum and maximum EFT fee amounts and the previous fee ranges are shown below for comparison.
| New | New | Old | Old | |
| EFT Fees | Minimum | Maximum | Minimum | Maximum |
| Mobile | 1 TL | 25 TL | 6 TL | 75 TL |
| Internet | 1 TL | 25 TL | 6 TL | 75 TL |
| ATM | 2 TL | 50 TL | 17 TL | 46 TL |
| Branch | 5 TL | 100 TL | 67 TL | 850 TL |
| Other | 5 TL | 100 TL | 67 TL | 850 TL |
Following these changes, other decisions include halving wire transfer (havale) fees for both customer groups. The early repayment commission for commercial loans, previously set between 2% and 6%, has been reduced: loans with up to two years remaining now face a 1% early repayment fee, while those with more than two years remaining have a 2% fee, according to the new communiqué.
Cash advance commissions on commercial credit cards, previously around 3–4%, are now capped at 1%. For retail (financial) consumers this rate is also set at a maximum of 1%.
No cap has been introduced for membership fees on commercial credit cards.
For financial consumers, fees for card replacement due to loss, theft or similar reasons are waived for up to two replacements. If more than two card replacements are required within one year, only the card production cost may be charged.
Safe-deposit box deposit fees for financial consumers are now limited to no more than one year’s rent for the rented box.