Basically, the authorities are bringing banking practice into line with the EU to counteract money laundering and other criminal activity. It was to have been completed by the end of the year, but fortunately, the deadline has been extended.
This means that anyone who opened an account prior to July 2008 must provide proof of identity to their bank as laid out in the final paragraph. We have done this and we have found that both our banks required 2 of the above, our passport and a utility bill.
Data update deadline for accounts extended The deadline for bank account holders to update their identity and address data has been extended. The Finance Ministry's Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) announced yesterday that they have extended the deadline for data updating, previously Dec. 31, 2008, to June 1, 2009.
Under a MASAK regulation intended to prevent the financing of terror activities and money laundering, introduced in April of this year, customers opening a bank account after July 1, 2008 are required to provide identity and address data. There are currently around 90 million active bank accounts in Turkey. Account holders who opened their accounts without providing this data will be able to convey their ID numbers to their banks' databases via e-mail or SMS. MASAK officials note that the regulation provides that civil servants and employees at private corporations with more than 100 employees will not be responsible for updating their data. Instead, their employers will handle the update on their behalf. Account holders updating their data in person will be asked to provide one of the following documents to confirm their address and identity information: residence permit, identity card, electricity, water, natural gas bill or marriage license.
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