New Move by MASAK Regarding Unregistered Transactions: Draft Communiqué No. 30

In order to strengthen compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”)’s standards, or to detect proceeds of crime and prevent their transfer abroad and money laundering, and to combat the informal economy, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (“MASAK”) has prepared the Draft General Communiqué No. 30 (“Draft Communiqué”) regarding the monitoring of EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer), remittance, and cash transactions. The Draft Communiqué was opened to the comments and suggestions until August 18, 2025. The Draft General Communiqué is not only a regulation but it is also a strategic document that initiates the transformation of operational compliance capacity.

The Draft Communiqué envisages that customers transacting with financial institutions having liability in electronic transfers and cash transactions, or persons authorized to act on behalf of customers, declare the nature of the transaction within the transaction limits determined in the draft. They should do so during money transfers or cash transactions and they are also expected to record the nature of the transactions, examine and question them in terms of the risks of money laundering, taking into account FATF principles and guidelines. This draft is thus a very advanced step in terms of combating informal economic activities. In this context, financial institutions are required to monitor customers’ transactions that do not have a reasonable purpose and are inconsistent with the customer profile.

Declaration Obligation Classified According to Transaction Limits and Options for Classification in Electronic Transfers and Remittances

For cash transactions where the transaction amount or the total amount of multiple related transactions are between TRY 200,000 and TRY 2,000,000 (inclusive), financial institutions offer their customers the most frequently used transaction types as options, for declaring the nature of the transaction. The Draft Communiqué stipulates that certain headings, such as “attorney fee”, “gift”, and “tax payment”, must be included at the minimum in electronic transfers and wires, and that if the “other” or “individual payment” options are selected by the customer, a transaction description must be obtained from the customer. For cash transactions where the transaction amount or the total amount of multiple related transactions are between TRY 2,000,001 and TRY 20,000,000 (inclusive), a Cash Transaction Declaration Form must be completed, to declare the nature of the transaction. For transactions exceeding TRY 20,000,000, the Cash Transaction Declaration Form must be completed with a detailed explanation, supporting documents attached.

The Draft Communiqué also places the most frequently performed financial transactions within financial institutions under a control framework in accordance with international standards by using the concept of “stringent measures”. This Draft Communiqué is a very advanced step in terms of making Turkey’s FATF commitments a tangible part of its domestic legislation.

Situations Where the Declaration Obligation Does Not Arise

Transactions carried out between a customer’s accounts within the same financial institution; transactions where the customer is a public institution and organization; transactions carried out between banks and where the customer is a bank; transactions carried out within the scope of correspondent banking; electronic transfers and remittance transactions made from ATMs where the transaction amount or the total amount of multiple related transactions that do not exceed the amount in Article 5/c of the Regulation on Measures to Prevent Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism; and cash transactions made from ATMs where the transaction amount or the total amount of multiple related transactions that do not exceed TRY 200,000 are excluded from the scope of this Draft Communiqué.

MASAK had recently classified suspicious transactions related to “tax evasion and informal economic activities” in the “medium risk” category in its updated National Risk Assessment study. In this assessment, with reference to Article 359 of the Tax Procedure Law, it described irregularities in the document and record system of tax obligations and the resulting income in the nature of proceeds of crime. Obviously, fact-finding is the expertise of the tax audit authority, which has the power and competence to conduct the relevant examinations. However, in such cases, the place where it is easier to facilitate detection and confirm the audit findings is the transactions at financial institutions. These transactions are the transactions whose standards are determined by the specified transaction limits, minimum declaration categories, and declaration form in this Draft Communiqué.

This draft establishes an important control mechanism for preventing money laundering and combating the informal economy by requiring the real or legal persons performing the transaction to declare the nature of the transaction in critical transaction categories, such as cash transactions and electronic money transfers.