AMENDMENTS TO BANKING FEES

A. INTRODUCTION

The Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (“CBRT”) amended the Communiqué No. 2020/4 on Procedures and Principles Regarding the Fees that Banks Can Charge Commercial Clients (“Communiqué”) with the Communiqué No. 2022/26 ("Amendment Communiqué") published in the Official Gazette No. 31962 on 23 September 2022. The full text of the Communiqué is available here.

In line with the amendments to the Communiqué, the CBRT also updated the Implementation Instructions on the Fees That Banks Can Charge Their Commercial Clients ("Implementation Instructions"). The full text of the Implementation Instructions is available here.

B. AMENDMENTS

The Amendment Communiqué amended the loan commitment fees and loan utilization fees that banks can charge their commercial clients, and the application areas of these fees. According to the amendments;

  • The loan commitment fees cannot exceed 0.25% of the allocated credit limit for the first limit allocation, and 0.125% of the renewed limit for the limit renewals.
  • The loan utilization fees cannot exceed 1.10% of the loan utilized for loans other than revolving loans, and 1% per annum of the average loan utilization balance for revolving loans.
  • For the loan utilizations with a maturity of less than one year, the maximum loan utilization fee shall be applied by considering the number of days to maturity and deducting them proportionally.

Furthermore, provisional article 2 was added to the Communiqué in order to expand the scope of application of the limitations on loan commitment fees and loan utilization fees. Accordingly, the limitations on loan commitment fees and loan utilization fees set forth under the Communiqué shall also apply to the fees that may be charged by banks to financial institutions for the utilization of the loans set forth under the provisional article 3 of the Communiqué on Securitization numbered 2022/20 published under the Official Gazette dated June 10, 2022 and numbered 31862.

C. EFFECTIVE DATE

The Amendment Communiqué entered into force upon its publication in the Official Gazette on 23 September 2022.

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.