Moving From a Bank to a Broker: Türkiye's 17 June 2026 Ruling

On 17 June 2026, Türkiye's Capital Markets Board (SPK) published a principle decision in its weekly bulletin: deposit and participation banks may no longer act as intermediaries routing orders for foreign shares and share-based derivatives. A bank can now do this only through an authorised brokerage firm. If you buy US stocks through your bank's app, the question is where your account actually sits and, if it has to move, what happens to your purchase records. This article covers the text of the ruling, what it leaves out and the tax side of moving.

The Text of the Ruling

The decision was published in SPK bulletin 2026/39 under the number i-SPK.37.9. The new clause added to the brokerage section of the investment firms guidebook opens like this (our translation):

Deposit or participation banks may not engage in order routing for shares, or derivatives based on shares and share indices, abroad.

The clause's second sentence leaves banks two routes. A bank may help a client open an account at a brokerage firm that the SPK has authorised to deal abroad and that has signed a routing agreement with the bank, or it may pass the client's orders to that firm. In other words, the bank can stay the front door; the party responsible for the order becomes the brokerage firm.

The same bulletin carries a second announcement: trading in exchange-traded funds listed on foreign exchanges may be carried out by investment firms under the rules for order routing or dealing. That announcement explicitly keeps in place the SPK's 2017 ruling on not conducting "spot or derivative transactions based on crypto assets". More: Crypto ETFs

What the Text Leaves Out

The three things a reader most wants to know are not in the ruling:

• Transition period and effective date. The ruling gives no separate date, and no new clause was added to the guidebook's transition section for it.
• Existing positions. Nothing says whether shares already held through a bank must be moved, sold or can stay.
• Reasoning. The bulletin does not explain why the decision was taken.

At the time of writing, no bank announcement specific to this ruling could be found either. Some banks already run their foreign stock service through their own brokerage arm: Garanti BBVA's page says orders go through Garanti BBVA Yatırım's channels, and Yapı Kredi's page says the platform is offered through Yapı Kredi Yatırım. Your bank is the one that can say what the ruling changes for your account; ask for the answer in writing.

Two Ways to Move

If your account moves to another firm, the shares go one of two ways, and for tax purposes they are not the same thing.

A transfer can carry a fee too; QNB Invest's page, for example, lists outgoing transfers of foreign shares at 1,500 TL plus BSMV tax per instruction. Fractional shares usually can't be transferred and are sold for cash instead; small as it is, that is a sale. More: What Are Fractional Shares?

Why the Purchase Record Matters So Much

In Türkiye, gains on foreign shares are calculated in lira, and both halves of the calculation hang on the purchase date. The first is the exchange rate: cost is converted at the central bank's buying rate on the day you bought. The second is indexation: if domestic producer prices (Yİ-ÜFE) rose 10% or more between the month before you bought and the month before you sold, your cost is scaled up by that rise. Lose the purchase date and you lose both. More: Taxation of Foreign Stock Gains

If you bought the same stock on different days, one more rule applies: the shares you sell come out of your oldest purchase first (first in, first out). Without records of your first purchases at the old firm, there's no way to tell which purchase a sale at the new firm matches.

None of the broker pages read for this article say whether a transferred holding arrives on the new statement with its original purchase date and cost. The new firm may show it at the transfer day's price, or with no cost at all. Both give the wrong result on a tax return.

Checklist Before You Move

• 01Ask your bank: is your account held at the bank or at a brokerage firm today, and what does the ruling change for it? Get the answer in writing.
• 02Download every statement, dividend record and 1042-S since the account opened.
• 03Find out whether the move is a transfer in kind or a sale. If it's a sale, it creates a tax filing for that year.
• 04Ask what happens to fractional shares; they are usually sold for cash.
• 05Get the outgoing and incoming transfer fees from both firms.
• 06Compare the new firm's US fees: Broker Comparison
• 07File a new W-8BEN with the new firm. The form is a declaration given to a firm; a new firm asks for its own. More: W-8BEN and 1042-S
• 08Once the move is done, check the share counts and purchase dates on the new statement line by line against the old one.

Bringing It Together in the Tax Calculator

This site's tax calculator can import statements: it recognises Midas and Interactive Brokers statements and reads several files at once. Rows in a format it doesn't recognise show up in the preview but unticked; every row needs your confirmation. It matches sales to purchases first in, first out, and if a sale exceeds the purchases you loaded it doesn't fill the gap with a made-up cost; it shows the shortfall.

If you're moving accounts, load the old firm's and the new firm's statements together. If the new firm shows the transfer day as a purchase, leave that row unticked; the real purchase for those shares is on the old firm's statement.

This article is based on SPK bulletin 2026/39 and the investment firms guidebook as amended by the ruling, using sources read as of 24 October 2026. It is general information, not tax or legal advice.