With the announcement dated August 31, 2022 made under the official website of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency ("Agency"), the Draft Regulation ("Draft") amending the Regulation on Remote Identification Methods to be Used by Banks and Establishment of Contractual Relationship in Electronic Environment published under the Official Gazette dated April 1, 2021 and numbered 31441 ("Regulation") was published.
A. REGULATIONS PROPOSED BY THE DRAFT
1. Regulation on the Establishment of Contractual Relationship by the Disabled Persons with Remote Identification
According to new paragraph 9 proposed to added to Article 4 of the Regulation, the remote identification process will be designed pursuant to Article 4 of the Regulation on Accessibility of Banking Services which sets out the principles and procedures for making the banking services suitable for access and available for use of the disabled customers. The Draft also states that the controls specified under the Regulation must be carried out according to the disability status of the disabled persons.
2. Regulation on the Identification Process of the Legal Person
The Draft sets forth significant regulations for legal persons to become customers through remote customer acquisition method.
(i) With the Draft, legal persons are also included under the definition of "person" under the Regulation and the term "legal persons" is defined as "commercial companies regulated under the Turkish Commercial Code dated 14/02/2011 and numbered 6102".
(ii) In order to adapt the Regulation to legal person customers, the Draft includes a new article 7/A titled "Verification of the person in the identification process of the legal person" and a new article 7/B titled "Documents to be used in the identification of the legal person and verification". The principles adopted in these articles are briefly as follows:
- For the identification of a legal person, the relevant person
who initiated the process on behalf of a legal person will be
identified and her/his authority to represent and bind such legal
person will be examined.
- In the event that there is more than one person authorized to
represent and bind the legal person, simultaneous verification will
not be sought.
- The authority of the person initiating the process will be
verified through the databases of state institutions and
organizations such as the Central Registration System
(MERSIS) and the Trade Registry Gazette.
- The customer representative will be able to take photographs
and/or screenshots showing the information on the signature
circular.
- After the identity verification of the legal person's representative, information such as the trade name, trade registry number, field of activity and address of the legal person will be confirmed through the databases such as the Central Registration System (MERSIS) and the Trade Registry Gazette.
According to the Draft, Article 11/1 of the Regulation will also cover the legal person customers so that the banks' will be responsible to ensure that the solutions used for remote identification are used in a manner that minimizes the risk of misidentification of the legal person customers.
3. Regulation on Artificial Intelligence-Based Applications
According to the Draft, the Agency will be authorized to determine the procedures and principles regarding the artificial intelligence-based methods being used for the transactions traditionally carried out by the customer representatives under the Regulation.
B. CONCLUSION
The Draft aims to cover the missing points in the Regulation, in particular the ability of the legal persons to contract electronically through remote identification methods. Opinions regarding the Draft may be sent to the Agency via bsmevzuat@bddk.org.tr.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
