How to Verify a Company in Turkey? An Ultimate Guide

Turkey ranks as the 19th largest GDP and the 11th largest if measured by purchasing power parity. However, this country is young and geographically strategic, making it a large market of interest for US firms. On the other hand, the economy faces several constraints that limit its growth prospects, including high inflation rates, currency debasement, and protectionism. Despite these factors, over 1,000 U.S. firms have been here for more than a century.

As Turkish companies increasingly invest in the U.S. and vice versa, understanding the financial health and operational legitimacy of these entities becomes critical. Comprehensive business verification helps you make informed investment decisions, ensuring that resources are invested efficiently. This comprehensive guide explains how to verify a company in Turkey while also highlighting the challenges that a business person can face during the procedure.

How to Verify if a Company is Registered in Turkey?

When a business aims to verify a company in Turkey, it must screen it against the public registry Türkiye Ticaret Sicil Gazette (Turkish Trade Registry Gazette). This online platform provides comprehensive information about registered businesses in Turkey. The Union of Chambers Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) manages this official portal. It serves as a public registry for keeping a record of important legal notices related to business registrations and activities in Turkey.

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Step-by-Step Guide to Verify a Company in Turkey

At the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette, follow the following steps to verify a company in Turkey:

Open Turkish Trade Registry Gazette: To verify a company in Turkey, open the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette. The default language of the portal is Turkish, but you can translate it into English as well. After that, click on the inquiry trade name option, and you will be taken to the page where you can search for any company in Turkey.

Enter Trade Registry Number: This is the unique identifier that is given to every registered business in Turkey. Using this number, you can search and verify the legal standing of companies.

What You Get: When you search for a certain company on the portal, you get the trade registry name, number, incorporation date, ad type, and the official gazette document in PDF version. At The KYB, we provide you access to all this essential company data under one platform to verify a company in Turkey.

Challenges to Verify a Company in Turkey

Verifying a company in Turkey is subjected to some challenges, such as:

• Limited Search Options

Basic search facilities are offered on the portal, such as searching under trade names or by registration numbers. Without searching filters in more detail, for example, to find firms or by geographic location or particular directors, it is challenging to find companies unless you have very precise details.

• Language Limitations

The portal is mainly in Turkish, which is a problem for a non-native Turkish user. International users or foreign businesses may have difficulties navigating and verifying company information. The availability of important documents (financial details, account details, and credit information) in Turkish makes it challenging for people and businesses who wish to verify a company in Turkey.

How to Verify an Ultimate Beneficial Owner UBO in Turkey?

Every country has different thresholds for its Ultimate Beneficial Owners. In Turkey, legal ownership refers to the natural persons who share and sign the articles of association. As per Turkish standards, a UBO is the person who ultimately controls and owns the organization with a minimum threshold of 25%. Although, according to Turkish AML regulations, all financial institutions and companies are required to identify and report UBOs, access to complete UBO data is not available to the general public. However, The KYB can help you strengthen every step of business verification by providing you with information regarding the ownership structure. Our experts can fetch the most accurate UBO data through manual KYB checks.

MERSIS is another digital platform that claims to provide some beneficial ownership data. However, if you want to fetch details on the ownership and legal framework, you must require specific access or other legal procedures. Considering all this hassle, UBO identification and verification in Turkey is challenging.

Conducting AML Checks on businesses in Turkey

Due to its strategic geographic location, Turkey is vulnerable to various financial crimes such as terrorist funding, money laundering, bribery, and cyberattacks. Being aware of the risks of money laundering, the Turkish government is taking aggressive steps against potential financial crimes. The country has adopted very strong AML legislation and regulations from international organizations, including FATF, the United Nations, and the European Union, in accordance with global standards. Turkey has aptly exposed itself to fighting financial crime and enhancing the integrity of its financial systems.

• Business Screening: To ensure complete compliance with anti-money laundering regulations, business screening is crucial. In this type of verification, businesses, regardless of their size, are screened and verified to minimize the risk of potential fraud.
• UBO Screening: AML checks are not just implemented on the businesses. They also include verifying the beneficial owners and identifying the level of risk associated with them. UBO screening is done to enhance transparency and establish bonds with the right business persons.
• Adverse Media Screening: While conducting AML checks, we make sure that all crucial aspects of verification are implemented. For this purpose, we also check public sources for any negative news about business individuals or firms, helping them identify the potential risks associated with them.

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Turkish Business License and Certificate Verification

• Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency

It is the main regulatory body for finance-related operations in Turkey. The key role of BDDK Turkey is to oversee and regulate the banking sectors to ensure the integrity and stability of the financial system. It also supervises banks, financial leasing firms, and other financial institutions, ensuring they comply with Turkish financial laws and regulations.

Additionally, the Capital Markets Board of Turkey is a supervising authority that governs the capital markets, terms of the stock exchange, and securities transactions generally. Together, the BDDK and SPK ensure smooth operations in Turkey’s financial sector. It does not directly provide the list of currently active banks. Hence, you can get a comprehensive list from the Banks Association of Turkey.

• Turkish Courts and Bankruptcy Administrators

In Turkey, bankruptcy proceedings are managed by commercial courts and bankruptcy administrators are appointed to manage the process. The primary legislation for governing the process of debt enforcement and bankruptcy is the Turkish Execution and Bankruptcy Law (EBL). It provides the legal framework for creditors to help them recover debts and manage insolvency cases for both companies and individuals.

• General Directorate of Customs

This regulatory body is responsible for ensuring the safety and compliance of the goods subject to international trade with standard regulations. Customs authorities enforce laws by prohibiting and restricting goods that go against compliance standards. Additionally, it also plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth processing of goods, promoting only legal trade activities.

Trust The KYB for Verifying a Business in Turkey

To verify a company in Turkey, trust the world’s biggest real-time data service provider, The KYB. We can help you uncover the full company profile of any business across Turkey, including the UBO data, with our enhanced KYB checks. To give you the complete picture of a company, we collect the shareholders’ data and, after that, do manual verification to verify the ultimate beneficial owners. For complete business verification, we provide access to all KYB data points that are available in the official business registry so that you do not have to face the hassle of finding them through the complex portal. We provide quick access to the company information across 250+ countries and states with 300M+ organizations.

Still wondering why The KYB is the best corporate data source provider? Organizations utilizing their KYB verification services get fast onboarding after an 85% reduction in time. Get in touch with us and choose the right and the best corporate data provider to verify any company across Turkey.