Recent Developments
On April 2, 2020, the Banking Regulatory and Supervisory Authority (”BRSA”) introduced certain measures facilitating financial institutions’ compliance with their reporting requirements through its decision No. 8976.
What’s New?
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a limited number of staff is conducting operational processes. In response, the BRSA introduced the following measures:
- (i) The deadlines for the year-end (December 12, 2019) and interim (March 31, 2020) financial reports; independent audit reports; activity reports; and
(ii) the deadlines for other notifications
that banks, independent audit institutions, rating agencies, asset management companies leasing, factoring and financing companies must submit to the BRSA and other relevant authorities, in accordance with the regulations below, are extended for 60 days. The extension for the deadlines in respect of the notifications in paragraph (ii) above will be applicable until December 31, 2020.
The original deadlines were specified in the:
- Regulation on Banks’ Credit Transactions (”Regulation”)
- Regulation on Banks’ Procedures and Principles for Accounting Practices and Document Retention
- Regulation on the Principles and Procedures concerning Banks’ Preparation and Publishing of Annual Report
- Regulation on Banks’ Internal Systems and Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (”ICAAP”)
- Regulation on Banks’ Independent Audit
- Regulation on the Procedures and Principles regarding the Notification of Executives’ Appointments, Oaths and Property Declarations, and Keeping Minute Books
- Regulation on the Authorization and Operations of Rating Agencies
- Regulation on the Principles for Establishment and Operations of Asset Management Companies
- Regulation on the Principles for Establishment and Operations of Financial Leasing, Factoring and Financing Companies
- Banks will be entitled to submit their Stress Test Report and ICAAP Report for December 31, 2019 electronically, through their registered e-mail address.
- If new borrowers could not submit to banks the required documents prior to the bank extending the relevant loan (e.g. financial statements, corporate governance principles compliance report, analysis tables), the borrowers will be entitled to provide the outstanding documents within six months following the loan allocation date. Banks will keep records of the outstanding documents Further, the existing borrowers will be entitled to complete the outstanding information and documents by the end of 2020, requested by the relevant bank as per the second paragraph of Article 11/A of the Regulation.
Conclusion
The BRSA’s administrative measures provide Turkish banks with flexibility in order to ensure their financial and operational health as the load-bearing columns of the Turkish economic system. The measures attempt to minimize the operational burden created by the COVID-19 outbreak on banks. In addition, the BRSA is attempting to maintain the financial market alive by reducing the burden of documentation on borrowers.
We understand that various new regulations will continue to be issued to cope with the constantly changing dynamics of the financial markets and these should be monitored.
Please refer to https://www.esin.av.tr/coronavirus-desk/ for our client alerts regarding the legal consequences of COVID-19 on other areas.
