PayPal, the multi-currency global payments provider today informed customers in Turkey that they can no longer be served via the official Turkish PayPal page. According to different media outlets, apparently the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA) of Turkey is only approving companies with infrastructure based within their borders.
Customers in Turkey as of June 6, 2016, will no longer be able to send and receive money via their PayPal account. Customers were informed they can log in to their PayPal account and transfer balances to a bank account in Turkey.
The local regulatory agency rejected the license application and now PayPal must comply with the instruction to stop activities in Turkey. PayPal also stated that it will continue its efforts in obtaining the necessary permissions to provide services to its Turkish customers again in the future.
The Turkish Lira has been hammered over the last few years, this could be a way of getting more control over depositors, stemming any capital flight from the country. See chart below from the last five years of Dollar/Lira where you can see the value of the Lira depreciated.
Courtesy: BarChart
To view the official notice click here.