The president of Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), Mehmet Ali Akben, said they did not approve PayPal's application for a license due to not following regulations. Akben recalled that U.S online payments company PayPal decided to halt its operations in Turkey after failing to obtain a new license for its services. According to Akben's announcement regarding PayPal's denial of a new license, PayPal did not follow the new rule that requires IT systems to be localized in Turkey. The situation was discussed following correspondence and meetings with the company, but the company did not conduct any feasibility study in order to localize their systems. While it is technically possible for the company to bring their system into Turkey, PayPal did not choose to do so due to its global company policy and it does not plan to bring its information systems and backups to Turkey.The BDDK suggested PayPal apply for a cross-border license instead, as it has a more minimal system by using the exceptions in the regulation for operations partly run abroad. PayPal was given some time to make a final decision, but did not send any feedback, and the application for an operation license was denied. According to Akben, the same regulation is valid for all firms, and there will not be any exceptions for any firm. Akben suggested that many firms currently operating in Turkey and run from one hub have made the necessary investments in accordance with the regulation.Regarding the issue, PayPal published a statement that said: "We regretfully inform that we have stopped our operations in Turkey. Our customers in Turkey will not be able to transfer or receive money through their PayPal accounts as of June 6. ... We would like to extend our thanks to all our customers for choosing us. Your support to PayPal has always been important for our staff and company in Turkey. Our efforts to receive necessary permissions to re-offer service for our customers in Turkey in the future will continue." Established in 1998, PayPal had its initial public offering (IPO) in 2002, and became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay, a multinational e-commerce company, later that year. PayPal is currently one of the world's largest internet payment companies. The company basically performs payment processing for online vendors, auction sites and other commercial users, for which it charges a fee. In 2014, PayPal moved $228 billion in 26 currencies across more than 190 nations, generating revenue of $7.9 billion, 44 percent of eBay's total profits. The same year, eBay announced plans to spinoff PayPal into an independent company by mid-2015, which was completed on July 18, 2015.