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Standards/tr-qr-code

TR QR Code

TypeQR Code
PrimaryTR
MentionedTR
Completeness95%high

Overview

TR QR Code is Turkey's national QR-payment standard, established by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) + operated by BKM (Bankalararası Kart Merkezi — Interbank Card Center) 1, 2, Türkiye report. The Regulation on Generation and Use of TR QR Code in Payment Services was published in the Official Gazette dated 21 August 2020 (No. 31220) + entered force same date. BKM establishes and operates the TR QR Code Switching System, enabling TR QR Code transactions when payer + payee are from different institutions. TR QR Code supports POS, ATM, and e-commerce channels.

The structural distinction: TR QR Code's payment-method flexibility is structurally significant — payments can be made via:

  1. Payment cards (including TROY, Turkey's national card scheme).
  2. CBRT's system for Instant and Continuous Transfer of Funds (FAST).
  3. Mobile operator payments.

TROY is BKM's national card program that issued 2+ million cards in its first year + enables QR payments via TROY card — providing comfortable + practical payment experience without needing physical card. The TR QR Code + TROY + CBRT FAST + BKM combination creates Turkey's coordinated national payment-infrastructure modernisation — CBRT-coordinated, BKM-operated, multi-channel (cards + instant transfers + mobile operators).

History

Background — Turkish payment landscape Türkiye report:

  • Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) — central bank.
  • BKM (Bankalararası Kart Merkezi — Interbank Card Center) — bank-owned national payment infrastructure operator.
  • TROY — BKM's national card program.
  • FAST — CBRT's Instant and Continuous Transfer of Funds system.

August 21, 2020 — TR QR Code Regulation publication 2:

  • Official Gazette No. 31220.
  • Enters force same date.

BKM TR QR Code Switching System 1:

  • Cross-institution TR QR Code transactions.

TROY card-program integration with TR QR Code 3:

  • 2M+ TROY cards in first year.

Multi-channel support 1:

  • POS + ATM + e-commerce.

Multi-payment-method support 1:

  • Cards + FAST + mobile operators.

Technical specification

TR QR Code is CBRT-regulated + BKM-operated Turkish national QR-payment standard with multi-method support 1, 2:

Layer Description
Regulator Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT)
Operator BKM (Bankalararası Kart Merkezi)
Switching system TR QR Code Switching System by BKM
Country Türkiye
Currency TRY (Turkish lira)
Regulation Official Gazette No. 31220 (Aug 21, 2020)
Channels POS + ATM + e-commerce
Payment methods Cards (incl. TROY) + CBRT FAST + Mobile operators
TROY integration National card scheme uses TR QR Code

Use cases

POS card + QR payments 1: Cardinal — brick-and-mortar.

ATM QR-payments 1: ATM-channel-extended use.

E-commerce QR-payments 1: Online checkout.

Cross-institution transactions 1: BKM switching ensures interop.

TROY card-without-physical-card QR-payments 3: Modern UX.

FAST instant-transfer-based QR-payments 1: Account-to-account.

Mobile-operator-based QR-payments 1: Carrier-billing-style.

Implementations & ecosystem

Regulator: Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT).

Operator: BKM (Bankalararası Kart Merkezi).

National card scheme: TROY.

Instant payment system: FAST (CBRT).

Major TR participating banks: Garanti BBVA, İşbankası, Akbank, Yapı Kredi, Halkbank, VakıfBank, Ziraat Bankası, others.

Mobile operators: Turkcell, Vodafone Turkey, Türk Telekom.

Fun facts

  • August 21, 2020 Official Gazette regulation: Foundational regulatory milestone.
  • Multi-method support: Cards + FAST + mobile operators.
  • TROY 2M+ cards in first year: National card scheme.
  • Multi-channel (POS + ATM + e-commerce): Comprehensive deployment.
  • BKM TR QR Code Switching System: Cross-institution interop.
  • CBRT FAST integration: Account-to-account-based QR.
  • TROY QR-without-physical-card: Modern card-digitisation UX.
  • TR's coordinated national payment-infrastructure: CBRT + BKM + TROY + FAST.

Comparison

Feature TR QR Code (TR) Thai QR / PromptPay (TH) QRIS (ID) TANQR (TZ) Aani (UAE)
Regulator CBRT BOT BI BoT CBUAE
Operator BKM BOT + member banks BI + ASPI BoT Al Etihad Payments
Type National QR + multi-method (cards + FAST + mobile operators) National QR + ISO 20022 + EMVCo National QR National EMV QR National payment + QR
Regulation date Aug 21, 2020 2016 Aug 2019 Sept 2022 2023
National card integration TROY n/a n/a n/a n/a
Channels POS + ATM + e-commerce All All All All

Status

Active, comprehensive Turkish national QR + multi-method standard 1, 2:

  • CBRT regulator since Aug 21, 2020.
  • BKM operator + TR QR Code Switching System.
  • TROY national card integration.
  • CBRT FAST integration.
  • Multi-channel (POS + ATM + e-commerce).

Sources

Deployments

Found in the following country reports (grep across reports/countries/):

source · content/standards/tr-qr-code/index.md