BRSA Removes Foreign Currency Asset Limit for TL Loan Utilisation

With the decision dated 06.02.2025 and numbered 11145 published by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA), the previous decisions numbered 10250, 10265 and 10389, which included foreign currency asset limits for Turkish Lira loan utilisation, were repealed.

According to the BRSA statement, the purpose of the regulation is to ensure coordinated macroprudential simplification steps to be taken for strengthening financial stability and effective operation of the credit system within the scope of Article 93 of the Banking Law No. 5411.

With the aforementioned decision, the extension of TL loans to companies subject to independent audit whose foreign assets exceed the specified ratios was restricted.

If the company was subject to independent audit, it would make a commitment to the bank before utilising the loan, stating ‘my foreign currency assets are below the thresholds’, and then submit this to the bank with a report approved by the independent audit.

If there were companies that used credit even though they exceeded the thresholds, their credit utilisation was restricted and they could borrow with a 500% risk weight.

With the abolished decision, foreign currency asset position will no longer be taken into consideration when extending loans.

With this amendment, the obligation for companies subject to independent audit to prepare and submit quarterly reports to banks on foreign currency assets when loans are utilised or deemed to have been utilised has been terminated.

In the previous regulations, the aim was to inform banks about the foreign currency open positions of companies by reporting their foreign currency denominated assets at regular intervals. However, the BRSA's new decision eliminated this reporting requirement and provided an important convenience for the related companies. It is of great importance for companies to update their financial strategies in line with the new regulation and to implement these changes effectively.