Remote Onboarding in Turkey: CMB Opens Accounts to Foreign Investors (2026)

Remote onboarding in Turkey has long been out of reach for foreign investors. Until recently, a non-Turkish individual who wanted to open an account with a Turkish brokerage house, a portfolio management company or a licensed crypto platform usually had to appear in person, or rely on a cumbersome chain of notarised and apostilled documents. That changed on 3 September 2026, when the Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (CMB, known locally as SPK) published an amendment that allows foreign nationals and Turkish-registered companies to become customers without ever visiting a branch.

This article explains how the new rules on remote onboarding in Turkey work, what conditions they impose on foreign investors and on the institutions that serve them, and where the practical limits lie. A Turkish-language version of this analysis, SPK’dan Yabancı Yatırımcılara Dijital Kapı, is also available.

The Legal Basis for Remote Onboarding in Turkey

The rules sit in the CMB’s Communiqué on Remote Identification Methods and the Electronic Establishment of Contractual Relationships for Intermediary Institutions, Portfolio Management Companies and Crypto Asset Service Providers (III-42.1). The Communiqué was first extended to crypto asset service providers by an amendment published on 28 February 2026. The latest amendment, Communiqué III-42.1.b, was published in the Official Gazette No. 33359 of 3 September 2026 and entered into force on the same day.

The amendment did not appear in isolation. On 27 June 2026, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) amended its General Communiqué No. 19 to set the general anti-money laundering framework for identifying foreign nationals remotely by passport. The CMB amendment translates that framework into detailed operational rules for the capital markets and crypto sectors. The full text is published on the Official Gazette website.

Two new provisions govern remote onboarding in Turkey. Article 8/A governs foreign individuals, while Article 9/A governs companies registered with the Turkish trade registry.

How Foreign Individuals Can Open an Account Remotely

Under Article 8/A, an institution may identify a non-Turkish individual remotely using a passport that complies with the ICAO 9303 standard of the International Civil Aviation Organization and carries an NFC-enabled chip. During the video identification session, the data stored on the chip is read through NFC and matched against the information printed on the passport. The institution must also confirm that the passport itself meets the ICAO 9303 standard.

The rule is strict on one point that investors should know in advance. If the chip cannot be verified through NFC for any reason, the institution cannot establish a business relationship remotely. The Communiqué does not offer a fallback such as a visual inspection of the document. In practice, investors holding older passports without a readable chip cannot use remote onboarding in Turkey and will still need the conventional route.

Identification interviews must be carried out by staff who have received specific training in passport examination. The Communiqué clarifies, however, that this staffing requirement does not prevent institutions from using artificial intelligence tools for liveness detection and photo comparison, provided those tools meet the conditions in Article 14/A(1).

Address Verification Within Three Months

The institution must collect the customer’s address during the session and verify it within three months at the latest, either through supporting documents such as a residence certificate or a recent utility bill, or through public databases of the customer’s home country. Until the address is verified, the account is effectively frozen for outgoing activity: no transfers of cash or crypto assets and no transfers of capital market instruments to other accounts may be made.

A Closed Loop for Funds

The most significant operational restriction concerns the movement of money. Funds may enter the account only from a bank account held in the customer’s own name at a bank abroad, and may leave the account only to that same type of account. In both directions, transfers must go through SWIFT. Third-party payments, transfers via payment institutions and cash deposits are therefore outside the scope of remote onboarding in Turkey for foreign individuals.

Customers who complete remote onboarding in Turkey by passport are automatically placed in the high-risk category for anti-money laundering purposes. Institutions must also report these customers to MASAK, together with portfolio sizes and investment amounts, in the last month of each three-month period.

Remote Onboarding in Turkey for Companies

Article 9/A opens the same digital channel to legal entities, but with an important limitation for international readers. The amendment defines a legal entity as a commercial company governed by the Turkish Commercial Code and registered with the Turkish trade registry. A foreign parent company is not covered. A foreign group that wants to invest through a Turkish subsidiary, however, can onboard that subsidiary remotely.

The process works as follows. The identity of the authorised representative is verified under the Communiqué. The representative’s signing authority is then checked against current records in MERSİS, the central registry system, and the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette. Company information is cross-checked through MERSİS, the Trade Registry Gazette and the database of the Revenue Administration.

Where the institution considers it necessary, it may obtain an image of the company’s signature circular, confirm that the circular was notarised and compare the signature with the specimen in the representative’s identity document or in MERSİS. The process must be terminated if the ultimate beneficial owner cannot be identified, if the information does not match, or if any suspicious circumstance arises.

One practical advantage stands out. If the representative already has an individual account with the same institution, the corporate application can be made directly through the internet branch or the mobile application. For institutions that want to bring existing individual clients over to their corporate offering, this is a considerable simplification.

What Remote Onboarding in Turkey Means in Practice

For foreign investors, the amendment removes the single largest practical barrier to opening an investment account in Turkey. A foreign individual with an NFC-enabled passport and an account at a foreign bank can now complete the process from abroad. The trade-off is a tightly controlled environment: funds can only move through a closed SWIFT loop, the account is treated as high risk, and outgoing transfers remain blocked until the address is verified.

For brokerage houses, portfolio managers and crypto asset service providers, remote onboarding in Turkey creates a new acquisition channel but also a new compliance workload. Institutions planning to target foreign retail clients or Turkish corporate clients should review their remote identification procedures and staff training, build or procure NFC passport reading and ICAO 9303 validation capability, and integrate MERSİS and Revenue Administration queries into their onboarding flow. Payment operations will need controls that reject any inflow not originating from the customer’s own foreign bank account, and reporting systems must produce the quarterly MASAK submissions.

Crypto asset service providers face an additional layer, since the CMB has been steadily tightening its supervision of the sector. Our article on crypto regulation in Turkey explains the CMB’s new supervisory structure. Foreign groups considering a broader presence may also find our guide to entering the Turkish market useful.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a foreign company open a brokerage account in Turkey remotely?

Not under the new rules. Remote onboarding in Turkey for legal entities applies only to companies registered with the Turkish trade registry. A foreign company would need to use the conventional onboarding process or invest through a Turkish subsidiary.

What happens if my passport chip cannot be read?

Remote onboarding in Turkey is not possible in that case. The Communiqué makes NFC verification of the chip a mandatory condition and does not allow a visual check as a substitute.

Can I fund my account from a third party or a payment app?

No. Inflows must come from a bank account abroad held in your own name, and outflows may only go back to such an account, in both cases via SWIFT.

How KYO Legal Can Help

KYO Legal advises intermediary institutions, portfolio management companies and crypto asset service providers on CMB and MASAK compliance, including the design of procedures for remote onboarding in Turkey. We also assist foreign investors in structuring their investments in Turkey. You can learn more about our capital markets law and compliance practices, or contact us to discuss your project.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Please seek specific advice for your situation.