SPK Decision 76/1903 under Law No. 7596: How Interim Payments in Turkey’s Liquidated Funds Are Capped, Ordered and Paid (2026)

On 27 October 2026, the day Law No. 7596 on Certain Investment Funds Ordered into Liquidation was published in the Official Gazette (No. 33413), the Capital Markets Board (SPK) adopted decision 76/1903 and announced it in SPK Bulletin 2026/76. The decision sets the first implementing rules under the Law. It starts the liquidation of the funds of three of the seven portfolio management companies concerned, with two banks as liquidators, and confirms interim payments to their unit holders, starting with money market funds. The interim payment is calculated per fund and capped at the holder’s unindexed net investment and TL 1 million; where cash is short, the value of the units at a cut-off date is a third limit. Funds with enough cash pay a final payment instead. Non-money-market funds are paid in order of cash coverage, and SPK may approve smallest-first payment or a minimum amount for all holders. Persons SPK identifies under the payment ban receive nothing, units are not redeemed until the final payment, and voluntary returns of share gains go first to money market funds. It reflects the legislation in force as at 27 October 2026.

Why the decision matters

Law No. 7596 sets the outer limits of the payments to holders of units in the funds that SPK ordered into liquidation on 17 September 2026, but leaves the operative choices to SPK. Article 3(1) gives SPK the power to set the stages of the liquidation, the valuation principles, the method of identifying unit holders, interim and final payments and the order of distribution. Article 4(2) lets SPK decide in which funds an interim payment is made, and Article 4(3) lets it choose how scarce cash is shared. Article 7(2) gives SPK the general power to set implementing procedures, after obtaining the opinion of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) on matters within TMSF’s remit.

Decision 76/1903 is SPK’s first use of those powers. For a holder it answers four practical questions: whether its fund is now being paid out, how much it can expect in the first round, where its fund and its own holding sit in the queue, and what happens to its units. The Law itself is explained article by article in our guide Turkey’s Law No. 7596 on Liquidated Investment Funds. The payment tracks SPK set before the Law, and the options open to holders, are covered in Turkey’s 2026 Fund Liquidation: Legal Guide for Foreign Investors and Companies.

The legal framework at a glance

Where the Law is silent, Capital Markets Law No. 6362, Criminal Procedure Code No. 5271, Banking Law No. 5411 and other legislation apply to the extent they do not conflict with it (Law No. 7596 Art. 7(3)). The general rules on the funds themselves, including the duties of founders and custodians, are summarised in Turkish Investment Fund Rules.

What changed compared with decision 64/1775

Decision 64/1775 of 30 September 2026 already promised an interim payment of up to TL 1 million, based on MKK net investment, starting with money market funds, without redemption of units. It was adopted before any statute existed. The Law and decision 76/1903 now give the payment a statutory basis and add limits that the earlier decision did not contain.

Which funds, which banks (items 1–3)

Start of liquidation. Under item 1, the liquidation of the investment funds of three portfolio management companies, among the funds SPK ordered into liquidation on 17 September 2026, now begins. The work is carried out under SPK’s coordination together with TMSF, Borsa İstanbul, the Central Registry Agency (MKK), Takasbank, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), T.C. Ziraat Bankası, Türkiye İş Bankası and other relevant bodies.

Liquidators. Under item 2, T.C. Ziraat Bankası liquidates the funds of two of the three founders and Türkiye İş Bankası the funds of the third. Under the Law, the liquidating institution must act with due care to obtain the highest possible economic value, having regard to investors’ interests, market conditions, portfolio structures and the common interest of unit holders (Art. 3(2)).

Interim payment track. Item 3 confirms that interim payments will be made to unit holders of those founders’ funds under Art. 4(2) or 4(3) of the Law, within the framework of SPK’s decisions of 30 September and 15 October 2026. The funds of the other founders whose funds were liquidated on 17 September 2026 are not given an interim payment by this decision; they remain on the ordinary liquidation track under decision 64/1770.

Funds outside the Law. On 26 October 2026, in Bulletin 2026/75, SPK suspended the activities of two portfolio management companies under Capital Markets Law Art. 97(1) and ordered the liquidation of their remaining investment, real estate and venture capital funds. The Law covers only funds liquidated by the decisions of 17 September 2026 (Art. 1(1) and 2(1)(b)), so decision 76/1903 does not apply to those later liquidations. Valuation questions for real estate and venture capital funds are explained in Real Estate and Venture Capital Investment Funds in Turkey.

Final or interim payment, and the caps (items 5 and 6)

When a final payment replaces the interim payment

The interim payment is a tool for funds that cannot pay everyone in full. Under item 5, if a covered fund’s distributable cash is enough to meet the total amount calculated with the unit price valid at the end of the day before the liquidation decision and the number of units eligible for payment, unit holders receive a final payment instead of an interim payment. This mirrors the trigger in Law No. 7596 Art. 4(1): the net-investment method, with inflation indexation, applies only where cash is insufficient to pay that amount.

For a holder, the distinction matters. A final payment closes its position in the fund and units are redeemed. An interim payment is only an advance: units remain in the account, and further distributions, including from the recovery account kept at TMSF, may follow.

How the interim payment is capped

Ordinary case. Under the first sentence of item 6, read with Law No. 7596 Art. 4(2), the interim payment to each unit holder is calculated on a fund basis. It may not exceed the net investment amount calculated by the MKK without indexation, nor TL 1 million. Net investment is, in short, the cash a holder actually put into the fund less the cash it took out, matched on a first-in, first-out basis (Art. 4(1)). Outside money market funds, the Law adds a further limit: the payment may not exceed the total value of the units in the holder’s account at the end of the day before the payment amount is calculated, using the price calculated by Takasbank on the basis of a valuation for that day (Art. 4(2)).

Where cash is short. If distributable cash cannot cover all interim payment amounts (Art. 4(3)), the liquidating banks pay each holder no more than the lowest of three amounts calculated by the MKK and sent to them:

The different cut-off dates in limit (ii) follow the Law. For money market funds, Art. 4(2) disapplies the current-value limit, and the decision uses the value fixed on the eve of the liquidation. For other funds, the current value of the units, which may have fallen since September, sets the ceiling.

The order of payment (items 4, 7 and 8)

Money market funds first. Item 4 provides that interim payments begin with funds whose title includes “money market” (para piyasası).

Other funds: coverage ratio. For other funds, item 7 ranks the funds by the ratio of distributable cash in the fund’s assets to its total interim payment obligation, starting with the highest. Among funds with the same or a similar ratio, the liquidating banks set the order by reference to the number of investors whose interim payment can be met from available cash, giving priority to the fund where that number is greater.

Within a fund: smallest first or a minimum amount. Where a fund’s distributable cash cannot meet the total of the interim payments calculated under item 6, item 8 allows two methods, alone or together. First, an order may be set for each fund from the holder with the smallest interim payment amount, as calculated by the MKK, to the largest. Second, SPK may approve a minimum interim amount applied to all holders of the fund, set on the basis of the liquidating bank’s analysis of the portfolio’s liquid assets and the interim payment amounts, so that the largest number of investors can be paid. This applies the power in Law No. 7596 Art. 4(3), whose stated aim is that the greatest possible number of holders benefit in full from the available cash.

The combined effect is that small holders in money market funds are paid earliest, and large holders in illiquid funds latest. A large institutional position does not move up the queue by reason of its size.

Payment ban, units and set-off (items 9 and 10)

Payment ban. Item 9 repeats Law No. 7596 Art. 3(6) and adds the procedure. No payment is made from the liquidation or the recovery account of the funds liquidated on 17 September 2026 to persons and entities that SPK has found to have committed the acts in Capital Markets Law Arts. 104, 106 or 107 through the funds, together with them or with their participation, or to have acted together with those persons. The MKK notifies those persons and entities to the liquidating institutions. The underlying offences are explained in Market Manipulation under Capital Markets Law Article 107.

The ban rests on an SPK finding, not on a criminal conviction. A holder that is refused payment on this ground should ask for the SPK determination on which the MKK notification is based. In our view that determination is an administrative act open to challenge before the administrative courts. Criminal proceedings are separate; a complaint or an investigation is not a conviction, and the presumption of innocence applies. How a foreign investor can take part in the criminal file is covered in Joining a Criminal Case in Turkey as a Foreign Investor.

Units are kept; payments are set off. Under item 10, interim payments are made without redemption of units. Units are redeemed during the final liquidation payments, and interim payments are deducted from the amount to which the holder becomes entitled in the final liquidation. The Law goes further: at the final payment, payments previously made from the liquidation assets, from the recovery account or through other legal routes are all deducted (Art. 4(5)).

The general share return account (item 11)

Law No. 7596 Art. 4(4) allows two kinds of voluntary return into accounts announced by SPK. Persons who redeemed units in the liquidated funds before the liquidation date may return the part of their gain that exceeds their contributions indexed by the average of consumer and domestic producer price inflation. Persons who gained from shares in the funds’ portfolios that SPK has made the subject of Capital Markets Law Arts. 104, 106 and 107 may return, into a general share return account, the part of their gain exceeding the indexed purchase cost for the holding period. Under the Law, returns are optional, and SPK sets the calculation period, the method and other details.

Item 11 of the decision deals with distributing amounts transferred to the general share return account among the funds in liquidation. First, to complete interim payments, amounts go to money market funds, giving priority to those with the lowest coverage of interim payments and the largest number of investors whose net investment is below TL 1 million, in a way that completes interim payments for as many investors as possible. Second, any amount left after that is distributed to the other funds on the same principles.

This pulls in the opposite direction from item 7. Each fund’s own cash pays first in the funds with the best coverage; external returned money goes first to the money market funds with the worst coverage. Both aim to maximise the number of holders who receive their interim payment in full.

What the decision does not yet settle

Several matters left to SPK by the Law are not addressed in decision 76/1903 and remain to be set:

• the calculation period and the method for the voluntary returns under Art. 4(4), and the accounts into which redeeming holders may return gains;
• the minimum payment amount from the recovery account, below which amounts are accrued for the holder rather than paid (Art. 6(6));
• the principles for sharing between funds an amount reaching the recovery account that is linked to more than one fund (Art. 6(7));
• the timetable for interim payments; the decision sets an order, not dates;
• sale methods for portfolio assets under Art. 3(2), such as off-exchange sales or bulk sales, which SPK decides case by case.

Holders should also expect separate decisions on the funds liquidated on 26 October 2026, which are outside the Law, and on recoveries from those SPK holds liable under Art. 5, which TMSF collects under Law No. 6183. Recovery from individuals and asset freezing are covered in Freezing Assets in Turkey for Investor Claims and Claims Against Brokers, Custodians and Portfolio Managers.

Points for foreign institutional investors

Same queue, same caps. Neither the Law nor the decision gives foreign investors a separate route or priority. A foreign fund, pension scheme or corporate treasury is treated as any other unit holder: the TL 1 million interim cap applies in each fund, and position in the queue depends on fund type, coverage and the size of the interim amount, not on the investor’s identity.

Records are decisive. Unit holding is established fund by fund and account by account through reconciliation between the liquidating institution and MKK records (Art. 3(5)), and the MKK calculates net investment and interim amounts. Where units are held through a global custodian, a sub-custodian, an omnibus or a nominee account, the investor should confirm with its custodian how the holder appears in MKK records, because the cap and the order of payment are applied to the holder as recorded. Units blocked because redemption instructions sent to TEFAS on or before 17 September 2026 could not be executed are treated as holdings (Art. 3(5)).

Cash flows. Payments are made by the liquidating banks in Turkish lira through the account chain. Treasury and fund accounting teams should be ready to record interim receipts as advances against the final entitlement, not as a final settlement, since units remain outstanding (item 10).

Challenge window. Decision 76/1903 is a general decision announced in the Bulletin. If it is treated as a regulatory act, the 60-day period for an action runs from the day after its announcement (Administrative Procedure Law Arts. 7(1) and 7(4)); on our calculation that period ends on Saturday 26 December 2026, and filing by Friday 25 December 2026 avoids any argument about the last day. An investor may instead, or in addition, challenge the decision together with the later act that applies it to its own holding (Art. 7(4)). The deadlines for the earlier SPK decisions are set out in our fund liquidation guide, and the procedure in Suing Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK).

Frequently asked questions

What is SPK decision 76/1903?

It is a decision of the decision-making body of Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK) dated 27 October 2026 and announced in SPK Bulletin 2026/76 the same day. It sets the procedures and principles for the liquidations and payments under Law No. 7596 on Certain Investment Funds Ordered into Liquidation, which was published in the Official Gazette of 27 October 2026 (No. 33413).

Which funds does it cover?

It starts the liquidation of the funds of three of the seven portfolio management companies whose funds SPK ordered into liquidation on 17 September 2026, namely the founders whose funds SPK’s decisions of 30 September and 15 October 2026 kept on the interim-payment track. Funds of the other founders continue under the ordinary liquidation principles, and funds ordered into liquidation on 26 October 2026 are, on the wording of Law No. 7596, outside the Law.

How much will I receive as an interim payment?

In each fund separately, up to your net investment calculated by the MKK without inflation indexation, and no more than TL 1 million. If the fund’s distributable cash is not enough, the payment is limited to the lowest of your net investment, the value of your units at the relevant cut-off date and TL 1 million (decision 76/1903, item 6; Law No. 7596 Art. 4(2)–(3)).

Is the TL 1 million cap per investor or per fund?

Per fund. Item 6 of the decision states that the interim payment is calculated on a fund basis. An investor with units in several covered funds is therefore assessed separately in each of them.

Which funds are paid first?

Funds with “money market” (para piyasası) in their title come first (item 4). Among the other funds, payment starts with the fund whose distributable cash covers the largest share of its total interim payment obligation; where ratios are equal or close, the fund in which more investors can be paid in full goes first (item 7).

Will I be paid if my fund does not have enough cash?

Possibly in part. SPK may approve an order from the smallest to the largest interim payment amount in a fund and/or a minimum amount paid to every holder, based on the liquidating bank’s analysis of liquid assets (item 8). Larger holdings are therefore more likely to wait for later distributions.

Do I have to give up my units to receive the interim payment?

No. Interim payments are made without redemption of units. Units are redeemed during the final liquidation payments, and the interim payment is deducted from the amount you are finally entitled to (item 10; Law No. 7596 Art. 4(3) and 4(5)).

Who is excluded from payments?

Persons and entities that SPK finds to have committed acts under Capital Markets Law Arts. 104, 106 or 107 through, together with or with the participation of the funds, or to have acted together with those who did. The MKK notifies them to the liquidating banks, and no payment is made to them from the liquidation or the recovery account (item 9; Law No. 7596 Art. 3(6)).

What is the general share return account?

It is the account announced by SPK into which persons who gained from shares in the funds’ portfolios that SPK has made the subject of Capital Markets Law Arts. 104, 106 and 107 may voluntarily return the excess gain (Law No. 7596 Art. 4(4)). Item 11 of the decision directs those amounts first to money market funds with the lowest coverage and the most investors whose net investment is below TL 1 million.

Can the decision be challenged?

Yes, before the administrative courts. If it is treated as a regulatory act, the 60-day period runs from the day after its announcement (Administrative Procedure Law Art. 7(4)); on our calculation the period ends on 26 December 2026, a Saturday, so filing by 25 December 2026 avoids any argument. The act that later applies it to you can be challenged together with it.

Related guides

• Turkey’s 2026 Fund and Market Manipulation Crisis: Legal Guide for Foreign Institutional Investors — the entry point to this series
• Turkey’s Law No. 7596 on Liquidated Investment Funds
• Turkey’s 2026 Fund Liquidation: Legal Guide for Foreign Investors and Companies
• Turkish Investment Fund Rules
• Claims Against Brokers, Custodians and Portfolio Managers
• Freezing Assets in Turkey for Investor Claims
• Suing Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK)
• Joining a Criminal Case in Turkey as a Foreign Investor
• Market Manipulation under Capital Markets Law Article 107
• Representing Foreign Institutional Investors in Turkish Capital Markets Disputes