The Surge of Foreign Credit Card Usage in Türkiye: Empowering Merchants with paynkolay
Türkiye features a highly advanced payment systems infrastructure that seamlessly accommodates international visitors and global commerce. Data published by the Interbank Card Center (BKM) provides a detailed look into the domestic usage of foreign credit cards, revealing significant trends in transaction volumes. To capture this massive economic opportunity, Turkish businesses are increasingly relying on agile financial technologies like paynkolay to streamline the checkout experience.
A Staggering Growth Trajectory An analysis of BKM's historical data illustrates an exponential increase in the financial value processed through foreign credit cards. In 2017, the total transaction amount—encompassing both shopping and cash withdrawals—was approximately 18.8 billion TL. By the end of 2025, this volume had surged to over 517 billion TL across 126 million transactions. This tremendous growth reflects an intersection of high tourism rates, cross-border e-commerce, and a highly capable local fintech ecosystem handling massive transaction scales.
Shopping Dominates Cash Withdrawals A defining characteristic of foreign card usage in Türkiye is the overwhelming preference for digital, point-of-sale (POS) shopping over ATM cash withdrawals. Out of the 494.7 billion TL processed in 2024, approximately 467.7 billion TL was spent directly on shopping. This ratio demonstrates a strong reliance on Türkiye's digital payment terminals and proves that merchants must be equipped with versatile payment gateways to avoid losing out on international sales.
Capturing the Global Customer with paynkolay As the volume of foreign card transactions scales rapidly, local merchants need infrastructure that is fast, secure, and universally compatible. PaynKolay (N Kolay Ödeme ve Elektronik Para Kuruluşu A.Ş.) stands out as a critical bridge in this ecosystem, providing payment solutions that handle over 240 billion TL in transaction volume across more than 18,000 businesses.
To cater to the influx of foreign cards, PaynKolay offers a unified payment infrastructure that allows businesses to work with all banks and credit cards under a single commission rate. Whether a tourist is paying in-store or an international customer is buying online, businesses can leverage:
- Sanal POS (Virtual POS): A robust online payment gateway that accelerates cash flow and allows e-commerce platforms to securely accept foreign and domestic cards alike.
- CepnPOS: An innovative application that transforms everyday smartphones into POS devices, allowing merchants to take contactless (NFC) and QR payments instantly on the shop floor.
- Fiziki POS (Physical POS): Android, EFT, and Cash Register POS systems that modernize the traditional checkout counter.
By eliminating complex integrations and introducing solutions like "Linkten Ödeme" (Payment via Link), PaynKolay allows businesses to break free from the traditional cash register. They bring the payment directly to the customer's location—ensuring that transactions, whether domestic or foreign, are completed in seconds.
The BKM statistics underscore the critical importance of global interoperability within the Turkish payment network. As foreign card spending continues to break records, the integration of comprehensive, omni-channel payment systems like paynkolay is no longer just a convenience for Turkish merchants—it is a strategic necessity to thrive in a globally connected economy.