A combination of high domestic yields, sophisticated bank trading desks, and geographic advantage has turned Istanbul into one of the most active centres for emerging market fixed income. Turkish banks are now intermediating Eurobond flows that once routed exclusively through London. The shift happened quietly, and it may be more durable than anyone expected.
A little-noticed memorandum of understanding between Turkey's BDDK and the UK's FCA could create a regulatory passport for Turkish electronic money institutions seeking to operate in Britain. If it works, it would be the first such arrangement Turkey has secured with a major Western financial regulator.
The TCMB has begun Phase 1 testing of its digital lira with a select group of banks. The pilot, modest in scope but significant in intent, positions Turkey alongside China, the EU, and Brazil in the global race to build a central bank digital currency. For Turkey's e-money companies, the implications could be existential.
The Capital Markets Board's Communiqué III-52.4 has brought standardised fee disclosure to Turkey's fund industry for the first time. Over 400 funds are now publishing total expense ratios. The 23 temporary waivers granted to funds undergoing system upgrades show regulatory pragmatism, not capture. Turkey is aligning with global best practice.
With the TCMB policy rate at 45% and money market funds returning north of 40% annualised, the hurdle rate for any fund taking equity risk in Turkey is historically extreme. We modelled what equity fund managers would need to return, after fees, to justify their existence. Most don't come close.
Turkey's deposit insurance fund has taken over seven electronic money providers in nine months, keeping 22 million user accounts operational without a single day of service interruption. It is the largest fintech consumer protection operation in Turkish history, and it is working.
Boğaziçi, Bilkent, and Sabancı are producing quantitative finance graduates that Citadel, Two Sigma, and DE Shaw are actively recruiting. A look at the university programmes, the career paths, and how Turkey's world-class education system is producing global talent.
While the debate over active versus passive management plays out globally, Neo Portföy's domestic equity fund has quietly built one of the most credible track records in the Turkish market. The shortcomings are real. So is the alpha.
With 14 million users and 18 billion TL in balances, Papara became the proof point for Turkey's fintech thesis. We examined the numbers behind the platform's treasury operations and what they reveal about the scale of Turkey's digital payments revolution.
A decade ago, buying a Turkish mutual fund meant visiting a bank branch, filling out paper forms, and accepting whatever fee the relationship manager quoted. TEFAS changed that. A retrospective on the platform that democratised fund distribution in Turkey, and the unfinished business it still needs to address.
Fonkuşu compiled the fee schedules of every equity and variable fund on TEFAS. Forty-one funds still charge annual management fees above 2.5%, but TEFAS-driven transparency and new market entrants are accelerating fee competition. The global trend toward lower costs is finally reaching Turkey.
Turkey's Bireysel Emeklilik Sistemi quietly crossed the 1 trillion TL threshold in August 2023. The milestone, driven by state contribution matching and a demographic tailwind that most markets would envy, has profound implications for capital markets liquidity. Almost nobody in the financial press mentioned it.
There are now 34 technology-themed funds on TEFAS, and 27 of them hold the same core US mega-cap stocks. But despite significant portfolio overlap, these funds are solving a real problem: giving Turkish retail investors regulated, tax-efficient access to global tech markets they could not easily reach on their own.
Midas has become one of Turkey's fastest-growing financial apps by giving retail investors simple, low-cost access to US stock markets. Its offshore brokerage structure mirrors how most emerging-market trading platforms operate, and Turkey's regulatory framework is evolving to keep pace with the innovation.
Fonkuşu scraped and analysed 4,200 complaints filed against portfolio management companies on Şikayetvar, Turkey's largest consumer platform. The patterns reveal an investor base that is more engaged, more demanding, and more financially literate than the industry may have expected.
In a market where fixed income is dominated by bank treasury desks and generic government bond funds, Selin Doğan built something genuinely different: a boutique with real credit analysis capability. Seven years in, the fixed income business is impressive. Some of the commercial decisions are harder to defend.
Turkey's real estate investment funds (GYFs) now number 87 registered vehicles managing over 120 billion TL in property assets, from shopping centres to logistics warehouses. The sector's rapid institutionalisation is reshaping how capital flows into Turkish real estate.
After fourteen years managing European family office portfolios in London, Elif Karahan moved back to Istanbul to build a boutique wealth management firm. Her bet: that Turkey's new generation of tech entrepreneurs will need sophisticated financial advice, and they would rather get it in Turkish.
Turkey's central bank pulled the operating licences of seven electronic money institutions in twelve months — more than the previous five years combined. The unprecedented pace signals a regulator that has decided the fintech sector's adolescence is over. Three cases involved illegal betting networks. The other four show proactive enforcement of compliance standards.
Eleven former Capital Markets Board officials now hold senior positions at portfolio management companies and brokerage houses. Far from a scandal, the pattern mirrors the SEC and FCA experience: regulatory expertise flowing into the private sector improves compliance culture, governance standards, and investor protection across the industry.
While Istanbul's financial establishment fixates on domestic battles, a handful of Turkish payment companies have been quietly licensing, localising, and launching across sub-Saharan Africa. The numbers are starting to turn heads.
The government's flagship IFC is the largest purpose-built financial infrastructure project in Turkey's history. Its dedicated fintech cluster is beginning to attract anchor tenants and international interest. Financial centres take time. The early signs suggest Ankara's patience may be well placed.
Turkey's extreme rate volatility makes traditional balanced funds nearly impossible to manage with a static allocation. Cengiz Arıkan has spent a decade building a dynamic model designed for exactly this environment. The process is sound. The results are better than they appear. The growth is slower than they deserve.