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Turkey Cards & Payments Market Report
- Published Date: April 2020
TURKEY CARDS & PAYMENTS REPORT
A comprehensive overview of the credit cards, payments and consumer banking market in Turkey, with clearsighted commentary backed by relevant data.
Normally a credit card business wouldn't work with the caps on interest rate margin set by the authorities, but issuers are compensated through interchange in what is a unique and ambitious ecosystem.
Domestic network Troy has been steadily growing market share. Contactless too is growing rapidly, with use spiking as viral awareness took hold during the pandemic.
Debit card spend at the point of sale grew fivefold in the seven years before 2020, although credit card APRs and interchange are at historically low levels.
What you will learn from this Turkey cards market report:
Why credit cards have been so popular in Turkey.
How domestic network Troy is impacting the Turkish market.
Which competitive advantages issuers have created.
How regulators are so pivotal to the Turkish credit card market.
What low rollover rates mean for profitability.
TURKEY COUNTRY REPORT | KEY FACTS
- Turkey had been recovering from a difficult two years when the Covid-19 crisis hit, further destabilising the economy.
- Owing to a long-running cashless push, this payments market is highly advanced and competitive.
- The country has a goal to be cashless by 2023. While this won't be met, the campaign has spurred further innovation.
- With over 200 million cards in issue, Turkey is Europe's second-largest cards market. Credit cards are preferred to debit cards for making purchases.
- The credit cards market is highly regulated: interest rates and interchange are centrally set, and there are strict rules around minimum payments and instalment plans.
- Debit cards outnumber credit cards but are used predominantly to withdraw cash. The rewards offered on credit card transactions serve as a disincentive to use debit cards for purchases.
- The Interbank Card Center (BKM) has been central to the promotion of card use in the country. Through BKM, competing banks have collaborated to increase the size of the overall market.
- Domestic card scheme Troy was launched in 2016 to compete with Visa and Mastercard.
- The Turkish credit cards market is highly competitive, with the top five issuers – Yap Kredi, Garanti Bank, Isbank, Akbank and QNB Finansbank – collectively representing around two thirds of total credit cards in issue.
- Turkish banks are unusual in that they combine their card issuing and acquiring businesses
Turkey Payments Research | Report Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Demographics and the economy
Payments environment
Turkish cards market
Mobile payments
Profit pool
The networks
Key retail banks and issuers
Acquiring and processing
Online acquiring
Regulatory and other cards market information
Appendices: Card Payments Data
Appendix I: Demographics and the economy
- Demographic and economic indicators
- Ownership of key consumer devices
- Internet usage by population
Appendix II: Payments environment
- Access points
- Account penetration
- Consumer payment trends
- B2C e-commerce payment methods
Appendix III: Cards market
- Total cards payment metrics
- Contactless cards metrics
- Credit card numbers
- Total credit cards metrics
- Credit cards profitability indicators
- Debit cards numbers
- Debit cards metrics
- Prepaid/e-money cards metrics
Appendix IV: Profit pool
- Turkish profit pool
Appendix V: The card networks
- Networks' credit card market shares
- Networks' credit card numbers
- Networks' credit card billed volume
- Networks' number of credit card transactions
- Networks' average credit card transaction value
- Credit card interchange fees
- Networks' debit card market shares
- Networks' debit card numbers
- Networks' debit card billed volume
- Networks' number of debit card transactions
- Networks' average debit card transaction value
- Debit card interchange fees
Appendix VI: Key retail banks and issuers
- Key credit card issuers market shares by credit card numbers
- Key issuers market shares in credit card outstandings
- Key debit card issuers market shares by debit card numbers
Appendix VII: Acquiring and processing
- Merchant acquirer credit card market share
- Credit card merchant service charges
- Merchant acquirer debit card market share
- Debit card merchant service charges
- Credit card issuer/issuing processor relationships
- Credit card acquirer/acquiring processor relationships
- Credit card issuing processor market shares by card numbers
- Credit card acquiring processor market shares by the number of POS transactions
Appendix VIII: Online acquiring
- Online merchant acquirer market share
Turkey Country Report | Selected Extracts
Demographics and Economy
The country has the youngest population in Europe (with the median age standing at 32 years in 2018), largely due to high birth rates and fertility rates in the country.
Payments Environment
The payments environment in Turkey is very progressive and the country has ambitions to be a cashless society by 2023. While the complete removal of cash is, in reality, a remote possibility in that timeframe, there have been significant strides, particularly in digital and online banking.
Cards Market
As of year-end 2019, there were 236 million payment cards in Turkey, making the country, after Russia, the largest card payment market in Europe. Germany has a similar number of people – but has 68 million fewer cards.
Mobile Payments
With over 77.5 million mobile phone users in the country and mobile phone ownership reaching a penetration level of 97.1%, Turkey is an attractive market for mobile payments.
Profit Pool
Revenue streams of credit card issuers in Turkey are heavily influenced by regulation. Interest rates, minimum payments and interchange are all limited or set by authorities and reviewed periodically.
Card Networks
At the end of 2019 Visa and Mastercard held a combined 99% share of total credit cards in issue. The Turkish debit cards market consists mainly of Visa Electron and Maestro/ Mastercard-branded cards. Domestic private-label cards are insignificant.
Key Retail Banks and Issuers
The Turkish credit cards market is highly competitive with five firms – Yap Kredi, Garanti Bank, Isbank, Akbank and QNB Finansbank – collectively representing 65% of total credit card issuance. Over 20 banks compete for the remainder of the cards market.
Acquiring and Processing
Merchant acquiring in Turkey is dominated by the biggest four banks: Yap Kredi, Garanti Bank, Isbank and Akbank. This quartet collectively processed around 70 % of credit card billed volume.
Online Acquiring
With a turnover of around $11 billion in 2018, Turkey is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the world. There are approximately 20,000 e-commerce websites operating in the country.
Regulatory and Markets Information
The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) is the sole regulatory and supervisory authority for banks in Turkey. The BDDK was established in 1999, with sweeping legislation six years later regulating the activities of three types of banks: deposit banks, participation banks, and development and investment banks.
Turkey Card Payments | Entities Referenced
ABank
Akbank
Albaraka Turk
Alfabank
Alipay
Alternatif Bank
American Express
Apple Pay
Araba
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria
Bank Asya
Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency
Bankkart Mobil
BBVA
BDDK
BKM
BKM Express
BNP Paribas
Boleto
Bonus Fla
CardFinans
CarrefourSA
Cep Cuzdan
ClubFinans
Coca-Cola Icecek
Commercial Bank of Qatar
DenizBank
Diners Club
Discover
Dogu Group
Elo
Eyeverify
Finansbank
Fincube Incubation Center
Finnish Online Banking
Game Sultan
Garanti Bank
Garanti Payment Systems
G-Cash
Giropay
Gitti Gidiyor
Google Pay
GPS
Hackquarters
Halkbank
Hepsiburada
Ideal
iGaranti
ING Turkey
Ininal
Interbank Card Center
iPara
Isbank
Iyzico Payments
JCB
Kiler
Knet
Kuveyt Turk
MagiClick Digital
Markafoni
Mastercard
Mastercard Payment Transaction Services Turkey
Mobil Odeme
MOL AccessPortal
MPTS Turkey
National Bank of Greece
Opet
Paratika
Paycell
PayCore
PaymentWall
PayPal
PaytoGo
PayTR
PayU
Provus
QNB Finansbank
Real
Samsung Pay
Sberbank
SEPA Direct Debit
TEB
Trendyol
Troy
Turk Ekonomi Bankas
Turk Telecom
Turkcell
Turkish Airlines
Turkiye Finans
TurkPos
UnionPay
Vakifbank
VeriPark
Visa
Vodafone
WeChat Pay
Yandex
Yandex.Money
Yap Kredi
Ziraat Bank
Ziraat Katilim
MORE EUROPE CARDS & PAYMENTS REPORTS
Reports include detailed market and competitor intelligence on payments cards, e-money, acquiring, retail banking, and consumer credit in Europe. Analysts use primary and secondary source data and conduct in-depth interviews with senior industry executives and finance experts.
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