Turkish Bank Account for a Non-Resident Foreign Company

A company registered abroad can apply to a Turkish bank for an account in its own name, without first setting up a Turkish subsidiary or branch. Turkish foreign-exchange rules allow non-residents to hold Turkish lira accounts, and banks may open foreign-currency deposit accounts for non-residents.

That is permission, not entitlement. No rule obliges a bank to accept a particular foreign company. Turkish anti-money-laundering rules oblige the bank to refuse the relationship if it cannot identify the customer or cannot obtain enough information about the purpose of the relationship. In practice, the quality of the file matters as much as the legal permission.

This guide is for foreign companies that want an account held by the overseas entity itself. If you are forming a Turkish company, the account belongs to the Turkish company and follows a different file: see our corporate bank account guide.

Is a Non-Resident Account the Right Tool?

A non-resident account is a banking relationship. It is not a registration, a licence or a tax position. Before preparing documents, place your plan in one of three boxes:

A branch is not a shortcut. Under TTK Article 40(4), a Turkish branch of a business headquartered abroad is registered like a domestic business, and a fully authorized commercial representative resident in Turkey must be appointed for it. Our page on subsidiary, branch and liaison office options compares the three routes, and our main guide to setting up a company in Turkey covers the subsidiary route.

If the account would mainly serve activity that actually takes place in Turkey, the bank will ask why there is no local entity. Have a clear answer before you apply.

The Legal Framework in Three Layers

Foreign-exchange rules: the Central Bank

The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (TCMB) publishes the Capital Movements Circular under Decree No. 32 on the protection of the value of the Turkish currency. Article 51 of the circular states that non-residents are free to make payments, collections and deposits in Turkish lira in Turkey, and may therefore open Turkish lira accounts with banks in Turkey. Article 52 states that banks may open foreign-currency deposit accounts for residents and non-residents, and that account holders may use their balances freely.

Those provisions answer “is it allowed?”. They do not answer “will this bank do it?”, and they do not override the bank’s own product, currency and correspondent-bank limits.

Anti-money-laundering rules: MASAK

Law No. 5549 requires banks and other obliged parties to identify, before a transaction, both the person carrying it out and the person in whose name or for whose account it is carried out. The detailed rules are in MASAK’s Regulation on Measures (Tedbirler Yönetmeliği). For a non-resident company the key articles are:

• Article 5: identification is required when a continuous business relationship is established, whatever the amount; it must be completed before the relationship starts; and the bank must obtain information on the purpose and nature of the relationship.
• Article 11: a legal entity established abroad is identified through documents corresponding to those required from Turkish entities, certified by a Turkish consulate or bearing an apostille under the Hague Convention. On a risk basis, the bank may verify the information through notarized Turkish translations.
• Article 14: where people act for the company, both the company and the persons authorized to represent it are identified.
• Article 17/A: the bank must identify the beneficial owner (covered below).
• Article 19: the bank monitors whether the account’s activity is consistent with the customer’s business, financial position, risk profile and source of funds, and keeps the information up to date.
• Article 22: where identification cannot be completed, or the bank cannot obtain sufficient information about the purpose of the relationship, it must not open the relationship or carry out the transaction.

Remote onboarding: the MASAK limit

MASAK’s list of remote-identification legislation includes a regulation on remote identification methods used by banks. The anti-money-laundering rule is narrower, though: Article 6/A of MASAK’s Regulation on Measures provides for remote identification when a continuous business relationship is set up with natural persons or with legal entities registered with the Turkish trade registry. A company registered only abroad is neither, so plan for identification in person or through the documents and representatives the bank accepts. Ask the bank in writing how it will identify the company and each signatory.

What the Bank Will Want to See

There is no single national document list for non-resident corporate customers. Each bank turns the rules above into its own checklist. A well-prepared file usually answers five questions.

1. Does the company exist, and in what form?

Expect to provide a certificate of incorporation or current registry extract, the constitutional documents, and evidence of the current directors and authorized signatories, issued in the company’s home country. Article 11 is the reason these documents need consular legalization or an apostille. Ask the bank how recent each document must be and whether it wants originals, certified copies or both.

2. Who acts for the company?

The bank identifies each signatory and anyone acting under authority from the company. A board resolution approving the Turkish account, naming the bank and the signatories, is the usual evidence. Under Article 14(1)(b), where a representative’s identity cannot be verified from the identity documents in Article 6, the bank may rely on a notarized power of attorney or signature circular that contains the identity details.

3. Who ultimately owns or controls it?

Article 17/A sets two tracks. For legal entities registered with the Turkish trade registry, the bank identifies natural-person shareholders holding more than 25%; if no one passes that line, or the shareholder may not be the real owner, it must look for the natural persons who ultimately control the entity. For other legal entities, the regulation goes straight to that question: the bank must take the measures needed to identify the natural persons who ultimately control the entity. If no beneficial owner can be identified, the most senior executive is treated as the beneficial owner.

So the 25% figure is not a safe harbour, least of all for a company registered abroad. Prepare an ownership chart from the applicant up to the natural persons at the top, with each entity’s jurisdiction and percentage, and explain any trust, foundation, nominee arrangement or control right that sits outside the share register.

4. Why Turkey, and what will move through the account?

Article 5(3) requires the bank to understand the purpose and nature of the relationship. Give specific answers: the counterparties, the contracts or invoices behind the payments, expected currencies, monthly volumes and the countries money will come from and go to. Vague purposes such as “trading” or “investment” draw follow-up questions.

5. Does the company need a Turkish tax number?

A bank may ask for a Turkish tax identification number for the foreign company, its signatories or both. The Revenue Administration’s online potential tax number form asks for an individual’s passport details, so it is a route for people. A foreign company with no taxable activity in Turkey applies to a tax office instead: under the Revenue Administration’s internal circular on tax numbers (Series 2006/1), it files a Turkish copy of its certificate of incorporation certified by the Turkish mission in its country, or a Turkish translation of the certified foreign-language certificate. Agree with the bank, before you legalize anything, which numbers it needs, so the incorporation certificate is legalized and translated once for both uses. Our Turkey tax ID guide explains the identification function for individuals.

Step-by-Step Application

1. Pre-clear the profile. Send the bank a short description: jurisdiction, business, ownership chain, purpose in Turkey, expected flows, currencies and proposed signatories. Ask whether it currently accepts that profile and whether signatories must attend in person.
2. Agree the document matrix. For each document, confirm original or copy, apostille or consular legalization, Turkish translation, notarization and maximum age.
3. Legalize and translate once. Apostille or legalize the documents the bank listed, then arrange the Turkish translations it accepts. Names, registration numbers, addresses and titles must match across originals, translations and forms.
4. Obtain tax numbers if requested. Complete only the route the bank has confirmed.
5. Submit the KYC file. Include the ownership chart, the signatory resolution, purpose evidence and source-of-funds explanation. The bank’s compliance team may ask further questions.
6. Sign and activate. Signatories sign in the way the bank accepts. Account opening, signatory set-up, internet banking and international transfer permissions can be separate approvals.
7. Keep the profile current. Under Article 19 the bank keeps monitoring. Report changes in ownership, directors, address or business, and keep contracts and invoices ready to explain unusual payments.

Profiles That Draw Closer Review

Some files are reviewed more closely because the rules require it, not because the bank is being difficult:

• High-risk countries. Article 25 requires special attention to business relationships and transactions with persons resident in risky countries.
• High-risk situations. Article 26/A lists enhanced measures the bank can apply, including more information on the customer and the relationship, information on the source of funds, approval by a senior officer and closer monitoring.
• Complex or opaque ownership. Layered holdings, nominee arrangements or unexplained intermediaries make Article 17/A harder to satisfy.

Banks may also apply their own sanctions screening and correspondent-bank policies, which can limit currencies or payment corridors even after an account is opened. No adviser can promise acceptance, and a file should never be shaped to obscure ownership, control or the origin of funds.

Tax Questions the Account Does Not Answer

Opening an account does not make the foreign company a Turkish taxpayer, and it does not prove that the company has no taxable presence either. Whether a foreign company has a workplace or permanent representative in Turkey depends on what it actually does there: premises, people, agents, contracts and recurring operations. Review the activity, not the account, using our permanent establishment guide.

Withholding on interest and the reporting the bank performs follow the rules for the specific product and account holder. Ask the bank what it applies, and ask an authorized adviser in your home country how the account and its income must be reported there.

Official Sources Used for This Review

• TCMB: Capital Movements Circular, Articles 51 and 52
• MASAK: Regulation on Measures Regarding Prevention of Laundering Proceeds of Crime and Financing of Terrorism, Articles 5, 6, 6/A, 11, 14, 17/A, 19, 22, 25 and 26/A, and obliged parties’ duties
• MASAK: remote identification legislation list
• Revenue Administration: potential tax number application for foreigners and tax number internal circular Series 2006/1
• Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102, Article 40(4)