The Best Banks In Turkey

All information about banks in Turkey

All you need to know about banks in Turkey and the services provided by the best Turkish banks that open bank accounts for foreign investors and companies.

Turkish banks are considered one of the irreplaceable foundations in the field of investment in many sectors in Turkey, as these banks adopt a solid and secure financial system while providing several financial services that facilitate all payment and transfer transactions inside and outside Turkey.

Through this system, which is relied upon in banks in Turkey as a fundamental pillar, the latest technologies are used that help provide an integrated service to customers, and through which allows for following up all matters related to payment and transfer via mobile phone quickly and safely.

Through the applications of the official Turkish banks, whoever has a bank account can quickly transfer and receive money from inside and outside Turkey, with the advantages of foreign currency exchange, as well as investing in gold, silver, and platinum, and issuing credit cards to foreigners efficiently.

Banks in Turkey also provide services related to mortgages and credit loans and also provide bill payment services (water, gas, electricity, internet, mobile phone)

Also, banks in Turkey provide many facilities to cardholders, who can shop and buy online easily.

The most famous banks in Turkey

• Turkish Business Bank (İşbank)
  
  
  The Turkish Action Bank, known as (Türkiye İş Bankası) is considered one of the largest private banks in Turkey. The Turkish Action Bank was established in 1924 on the recommendation of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, becoming the first bank to be founded in the Republic of Turkey.
  
  In 2021, the volume of assets in the Turkish Action Bank became 926.6 billion Turkish liras, ranked 181 globally as one of the largest banks in the world, according to The Banker magazine.
  Turkish Business Bank offers a package of services in bank accounts locally and globally, as it has several international partnerships in Germany, Russia, and Georgia.
  
  The headquarters of the Turkish Action Bank is located in the Levent district on the European side of Istanbul.
  
  Turkish Business Bank comprises several branches, numbered 1,195 in Turkey and 21 outside Turkey. In addition, it is widely spread through ATM centers in many regions and employs more than 22 thousand employees.
   
• Turkish Ziraat Bank
  
  
  The Turkish Ziraat Bank is considered one of the oldest banks in Turkey, as it was established in 1863 by Midhat Pasha and Ahmed Shafif with the approval of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
  
  Ziraat Bank started supporting farmers by providing a modest charitable fund, as the majority of thwaspulation was facing several financial difficulties and was in great need of financial loans to help them improve their agricultural business.
  
  Ziraat Bank was the ideal solution that guaranteed farmers to provide financial loans to facilitate the purchase of agricultural equipment at that time.
  
  The headquarters of Ziraat Bank is located in the capital, Ankara, and it has many branches inside and outside Turkey. The number of workers and employees has reached 25 thousand.
  
  Also, Ziraat Bank enjoys excellent flexibility in financial transactions and the ease of opening bank accounts for all segments of society, including employees, investors, students, and foreigners.
  
  Ziraat Bank is considered one of the most famous banks in Turkey recently due to its high demand due to the introduction of the non-usurious work system.

• Vakif Bank
  
  
  The Vakif Bank was established in 1954 in partnership with several Turkish companies with a capital of 50 million Turkish liras. With this number, it is the second-largest bank in Turkey regarding the volume of financial assets.
  
  Vakif Bank provides integrated services inside and outside Turkey and has several branches in Turkish cities and abroad in New York, Manama, Berlin, Erbil, and North Cyprus.
   
• Garanti BBVA Bank
  
  
  Garanti bank is the second largest private bank in Turkey, with assets of $107 billion, established in 1946.
  
  Garanti BBVA Bank provides extensive services in the field of banking services in all businesses related to commercial companies of all sizes.
  
  According to 2020 statistics, the Garanti BBVA Bank has 884 branches inside Turkey and eight outside Turkey.
  
  It also has offices in cities such as Dusseldorf and Shanghai. In addition, it provides services to many customers, whose number reached 18.7 million, through employees who numbered more than 18 thousand and more than 5 thousand ATM centers.
   
• DenizBank
  
  
  DenizBank is owned by the National Bank of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and this was done during the year 2018. Deniz Bank has a balance of 3.7% in Turkey. It provides several banking and financial services in addition to several centers and branches spread in Turkey and two units in Germany and Austria.
   
• Halkbank
  
  
  Halkbank is one of the official government banks in Turkey. It was established in 1933 and began its activity in 1938. It aimed to provide facilities and loans to merchants and industrialists who owned small and medium businesses.
  
  The Halk Bank is one of the largest banks in the world, with assets amounting to $128 million, and is ranked 159th in the world.
   
• Yapi Kredi Bankasi
  
  
  Yapi Kredi Bankasi, the first private bank established in 1944 in Istanbul, is considered the third largest private bank in Turkey, with financial assets amounting to 780 billion Turkish liras in 2021. It has 804 branches inside Turkey and a staff of 15 thousand employees.
   
• Ak Bank
  
  
  Ak Bank is a private bank established in Adana in 1948 by several businessmen to provide financing to cotton producers. It is considered one of the largest banks in Turkey, with assets amounting to approximately $94 billion.
  
  Akbank ranked 94th on the list of 500 banks worldwide.
  
  The first branch of Ak Bank was opened in Istanbul in 1950, and then the management moved during the year 1950 to the city of Istanbul.
   

Arab and Islamic banks in Turkey

Islamic banks in Turkey provide broad and interest-free benefits, and one of the essential Islamic banks in Turkey:

• Kuveyt Turk
  
  Kuveyt Turk Bank was established in 1989. The Turkish Finance Corporation owns 62% of the capital of Kuveyt Turk Bank, the Kuwaiti Social Security Corporation owns 9%, the Islamic Development Bank holds 9%, the General Directorate of Institutions owns 18%, and other partners own 2%.
  
  Kuwait Finance Corporation is the largest shareholder in Kuveyt Türk Bank, a prominent institution in Kuwait that owns billions of dollars in funds and provides excellent interest-free banking services.
  
  Kuveyt Türk Bank is considered the best bank in Turkey for foreigners, as it provides extensive services to foreign and Arab investors and several facilities for using all modern technologies.
   
• Albaraka Bank
  
  
  AlBaraka Turk Bank is the first participatory Islamic bank established in Turkey by the Bahraini Al Baraka Group. Al Baraka Turk Bank began its activities in 1985 from the Umraniye district of Istanbul.
  
  66.51% of Al Baraka Turk Bank belongs to foreign investment entities consisting of Al Baraka Banking Group and the Islamic Development Bank, 12.91% to local investors, and 20.57% by public offering in Turkey.
  
  Al Baraka Bank provides financial and banking services to thousands of customers inside and outside Turkey. The number of its branches has reached 236 units all over Turkey, according to the data 2020, in addition to two chapters in Erbil and Baghdad in Iraq, and it employs about 3,900 employees.
  
  Al Baraka Turk Bank provides foreign trade services to nearly 1,000 banks in 80 countries.
   
• Qatari Turkish Bank (QNB)
  
  The QNB Finans Bank is one of the most prominent Turkish banks belonging to the Qatari QNB Group. It was established in 1987 with a capital of 4 million dollars by Husni Ozegan, which was in the Sisli district of Istanbul.
  
  FIBA Holding Company previously owned the bank under Finansbank; its ownership was transferred to the Qatari QNB Group in 2016 for 2.7 billion euros.
  
  The QNB Finans Bank is one of the largest Arab banks in Turkey and one of the most prominent financial institutions in the Middle East and Africa. It provides services to more than 1.5 million customers in Turkey and has 515 branches and 118 thousand employees in all its components around the world.

Electronic banks in Turkey

• Papara Turkish Bank
  
  Turkish Papara Bank is a technological financial institution that offers a new banking experience that works to provide competitive and user-oriented solutions that use specialized methods via mobile phone.
  
  Papara Bank was established in 2016 and operates in an official legal capacity and provides its services through 200 employees who offer their services to many users in Turkey.
  
  The Papara electronic bank provides extensive services, especially when purchasing through websites, and offers discounts for subscriptions to large sites such as (Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, and PlayStation) and other benefits for paying bills and transferring money inside outside Turkey.
  
  The Turkish Papara Bank competes with several competitors, such as Payoneer, Paycell, a Turkcell subsidiary, and Tosla Bank.

Electronic banks in Turkey are distinguished by being official members of MasterCard, Visa, and Interbank Card Center, and they provide prepaid cards that can be dealt with via websites.
 

Turkish banks for investment and development

There is a large group of Turkish banks dedicated to investment and development, which provide support through loans to many investment sectors; the most critical investment and development banks in Turkey:

• Turkish Industrial Development Bank
• Turkexim Bank
• Eller Bank
• Active investment bank
• Istanbul Bank Takas Bank

How to open a bank account in Turkey online

It is possible to open a bank account in Turkey online in all available electronic banks by downloading the dedicated application on a mobile phone, following the instructions, and providing all the necessary documents, personal information, and ID number.

Conditions for opening a bank account in Turkey

Turkish electronic banks only require the formal conditions stipulated to open a bank account in Turkey.

Edited by: Deal Real Estate