PayPal has quit operations in Turkey

PayPal has ceased operations in Turkey after the company was unable to get a new license from Turkish financial regulator BDDK. A new Turkish policy requires IT systems to be housed within the country, but that’s something PayPal doesn’t follow.

As a result from the shutdown, probably tens of thousands of business and even hundreds of thousands of customers are impacted. On the official website of PayPal Turkey, the fintech company says its hopes to eventually obtain permits to begin operating again.

The company told TechCrunch it respects Turkey’s desire to have information technology infrastructure deployed within the country’s borders. “However, PayPal utilizes a global payments platform that operates across more than 200 markets, rather than maintaining local payments platforms with dedicated technology infrastructure in any single country.”

Troy

Turkish PayPal consumers will be able to move their balances to local bank accounts. And it’s worth noting that the country recently launched its own payment system, called Troy. “There are many local alternative payment methods around the world that successfully serve their home market. When we evaluated these examples and the requirements of Turkish banks, we concluded that a local solution will bring independence and economies required to innovate in the fast moving, competitive payments market of our country”, Soner Canko, CEO of BKM, said in October last year.