Turkish banking watchdog fines 15 banks $2.8M over 'unjust' practices amid pandemic

Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) Friday said it fined 15 banks a total of TL 19.65 million ($2.84 million) over transactions that violated the banking watchdog’s instructions, as a move to relief customers amid economic difficulty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The BDDK did not name the banks but said an inquiry was ongoing with regards to complaints from clients.

According to an Anadolu Agency (AA) report, the BDDK move drew attention to unfair practices in rescheduling or restructuring debts.

Sources told AA that although the delay in payments was less than 30 days, in line with the instructions, customers' requests to reschedule or restructure debts were not met by the banks in question.

The prediction on the collection of all interest that is set to occur at the end of the rescheduling through a one-off balloon payment was also shown among the applications that were subjected to administrative fines.

Banks that did not offer options to the customer such as a separate payment plan for the installments to be postponed also faced fines.

The BDDK, with regulations announced on March 17 and March 19, extended the delay period required for the credits that are to be transferred to follow-up accounts to 180 days.

It was requested to provide additional financing support to firms with distorted cash flow and to provide necessary means in delaying and restructuring loan capital and interest payments for a minimum of three months if requested by the customers.

According to banking sources, customer discrimination practices are also included in administrative fines imposed on 15 banks.

Despite customers' requests to the contrary, paying credit to all or a large part of their salaries or regular income accounts, or blocking or subjecting them to the collection, was also among the reasons for the move.

The BDDK investigation regarding customer complaints is ongoing.