Settlement process - Turkey

29.09.2025

Takasbank matches and clears the street side of all Borsa Istanbul trades.

For cash equities and equity products (warrants, rights, ETFs etc.) automated pre-matching is available via Takasbank for OTC trades and for the client side of Borsa Istanbul trades, while free of payment transactions are pre-matched via the MKK. 

For fixed income securities held under omnibus account of Clearstream are pre-matched automatically as well through MKK system.

Settlement cycles

Debt securities:

T+0 for Borsa Istanbul trades (on-exchange trades); negotiable for OTC trades

Equities and equity products (warrants, rights, ETFs etc.):

T+2 for Borsa Istanbul trades (on-exchange trades); negotiable for OTC trades

Settlement flow

The street side of all Borsa Istanbul trades that have been successfully cleared by Takasbank settles on a net basis on accounts maintained by the local banks and brokers at Takasbank, the MKK and (government debt securities:) the CBRT.

The following settlement flows apply to OTC trades and to the client side of Borsa Istanbul trades:

Equities and equity products (warrants, rights, ETFs etc.)

Free of payment transfers matched through the MKK settle on the investors’ segregated securities accounts in the MKK.

Following their successful matching through Takasbank, against payment transactions settle on segregated investor accounts in the MKK (securities) and on omnibus cash accounts in Takasbank. The DVP system operated by Takasbank ensures a simultaneous exchange of the securities against cash.

Corporate debt securities

Free of payment transactions matched via telephone settle on the investors’ segregated securities accounts in the MKK.

Following their successful matching via telephone, against payment transactions settle on segregated investor accounts in the MKK (securities) and on omnibus cash accounts in Takasbank. The DVP system operated by Takasbank ensures a simultaneous exchange of the securities against cash.

Registration

Issuers can choose to issue securities in either bearer or registered form.

Notwithstanding their legal form all BIST-listed securities (except Turkish Fixed Income Securities) are recorded on segregated investor accounts in the MKK, i.e. in the name of the beneficial owner against its tax ID or (in the case of Turkish resident individuals) against the beneficial owner’s Turkish national ID number (see the Market Taxation Guide - Turkey for more details).

Stamp duty

No stamp duty is levied on Turkish securities transactions conducted by foreign investors. However, Turkish banks and brokers deriving benefit from certain transactions may be liable to pay stamp duty on such transactions.

Penalties (buy-ins etc.)

Short selling

Short selling is only allowed, provided the investor’s sale order displays the relevant short selling code that will be reported to the BIST.

Buy-ins

  • Equities and equity products (warrants, rights, ETFs etc.)
    Borsa Istanbul trades that fail to settle by 16:45 local time on the contractual settlement date face a market penalty. Trades that have still not settled by 09:30 local time on T+3 trigger a buy-in or sell-out on the BIST with same-day value. Any price differences are charged to the failing broker; the broker’s potential shortfalls are covered by Takasbank’s guarantee fund.
    Trading restrictions apply to investors that trigger a buy-in or sell-out more than twice within three months.
  • Debt securities
    There is no buy-in procedure for debt securities. A market penalty is charged to brokers that fail to settle Borsa Istanbul trades by 16:45 local time on the contractual settlement date. The penalty is calculated on the basis of the highest prevailing overnight interest rate (highest of the BIST Repo-Reverse Repo market and CBRT reference rates), whereby a progressive multiplier applies. The multiplier is a function of the time at which the transaction finally settles (before 17:00 on the contractual settlement date / after 17:00 on the contractual settlement date / a later date).