Turkey has been long admired for her demographic advantages and the speed of adoption and innovation when it comes to new payment technologies. And in the years following the global economic crisis of 2008, a fast-growing economy and robust financial institutions, has seen the banking sector play a pivotal role in the development of mobile financial services. A role that carries with it significant implications as to the most effective means of promoting adoption, driving use and broadening the application of mobile financial services products to the lives of consumers everywhere.

With three of the four largest banks having already launched mobile payment products and mobile network operator Turkcell having launched the world’s first handset built for NFC, the market is exploding with innovation but remains fragmented.

On the way up
A young increasingly affluent population, rapidly migrating to online commerce, is enabling the deployment of a wide range of mobile financial services

Contactless trial?
The experience of contactless cards has been useful for those banks that have tried them. With take-up and transaction volumes lower than anticipated, the extent of the challenge facing banks to promote consumer take-up and improve merchant acceptance has been brought home