Investor Rights in an Investment Fund Crisis in Türkiye: The Roles of the CMB, the Investor Compensation Center, Takasbank and MKK

Developments in Türkiye’s capital markets in September 2026—including the suspension of subscriptions and redemptions in certain investment funds, the start of liquidation proceedings for numerous funds, and decisions appointing other institutions to liquidate their portfolios—have brought the legal structure of Turkish investment funds into sharp focus.

Public discussion has also revealed widespread confusion about the institutions involved. The Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (the “CMB” or “SPK”), the Investor Compensation Center (“YTM”), the Central Securities Depository (“MKK”), İstanbul Settlement and Custody Bank Inc. (“Takasbank”), the portfolio management company, the portfolio custodian, and the bank or brokerage firm through which the investor purchased the fund do not perform the same function. Their powers, duties, and potential liabilities to investors differ materially.

This is not merely a technical distinction. Different legal routes apply depending on whether:

the investor’s fund units do not appear in the relevant account;
a redemption instruction has not been completed;
the amount received following liquidation is lower than expected;
the investor suspects that assets in the fund portfolio were improperly valued;
the investment was made based on misleading information; or
an investment institution is unable to return cash or deliver a capital market instrument belonging to the investor.

This article does not seek to determine criminal responsibility in relation to ongoing investigations. Its purpose is to explain the legal nature of investment funds, the functions of the institutions involved, and the remedies potentially available to investors under Capital Markets Law No. 6362 (the “CML”) and the relevant secondary legislation.

Are all institutions in the system public authorities?

No. The CMB, YTM, Takasbank, MKK and Borsa İstanbul do not share the same legal status.

The CMB is an administratively and financially autonomous public regulatory and supervisory authority. It exercises licensing, rule-making, supervision, investigation, protective-measure and sanctioning powers under Turkish capital markets legislation.
YTM is a public legal entity established under the CML. It is administered and represented by the CMB and implements compensation and gradual-liquidation decisions adopted by the Board.
Takasbank is a joint-stock company with banking status and a capital-markets infrastructure institution. It provides settlement, central-counterparty, custody and TEFAS services. It is neither the market regulator nor a general guarantee fund.
MKK is the central securities depository and a private-law legal entity. It maintains electronic records of dematerialised capital market instruments and the rights attached to them. It does not manage investment funds or make investment decisions.
Borsa İstanbul is a joint-stock company acting as a market operator. It operates exchange markets and trading infrastructure; it is not the manager or custodian of investment funds and does not compensate investors for fund losses.
KAP, the Public Disclosure Platform, is not a separate compensation authority. It is the electronic system through which public disclosures are published and is operated by MKK.

A request for regulatory investigation addressed to the CMB is therefore different from a request to review ownership records held through MKK. Likewise, a request for settlement information involving Takasbank is legally distinct from a compensation claim submitted to YTM.

The essential starting point: an investment fund is not the portfolio management company’s own account

Under Article 52 of the CML, an investment fund is an asset pool established with money or other assets collected from savers in return for participation units and managed on behalf of those savers in accordance with fiduciary ownership principles. Although an investment fund does not possess separate legal personality, its assets are legally protected and segregated from the assets of its founder, manager and portfolio custodian.

This structure has three important consequences:

An investor does not acquire shares in the portfolio management company. The investor acquires participation units representing an interest in the fund’s segregated asset pool.
The fund’s assets are separate from those of the portfolio management company and the portfolio custodian. Financial distress affecting the company does not, as a rule, make the fund portfolio available to the company’s creditors.
Fund assets benefit from a special statutory protection regime. Subject to the exceptions expressly permitted by law, fund assets may not be pledged or used as collateral, attached by third parties, made subject to interim measures, or included in the bankruptcy estate of the portfolio management company or custodian.

Accordingly, a trading ban, restriction of activities or other administrative measure imposed on a portfolio management company does not mean that the investors’ units or the fund portfolio have legally ceased to exist. The first questions are whether the fund assets exist, what those assets consist of, and at what value they can be realised.

Asset segregation does not, however, guarantee the amount originally invested. If the securities or other assets in the portfolio have lost value, are illiquid, or can be sold only at a substantial discount during liquidation, the amount ultimately distributed to the investor may be lower than the initial investment.

What does liquidation of an investment fund mean?

Liquidation does not mean that a public authority will reimburse each investor’s original principal. It is the process through which the fund’s assets are administered in accordance with the applicable legislation and the relevant CMB decision, receivables are collected, liabilities are discharged, assets are realised in an appropriate manner and within the applicable timeframe, and the remaining proceeds are distributed among the holders of participation units in proportion to their entitlements.

The amount ultimately received by an investor therefore depends on matters including:

the fund portfolio’s actual composition;
the legal and economic value of the portfolio assets;
the liquidity of those assets;
the accuracy of the valuation methodology;
the fund’s debts and other liabilities;
liquidation expenses; and
the price at which the assets can be realised during the liquidation process.

A bank or portfolio management company appointed to conduct the liquidation is not a guarantor undertaking to make investors whole from its own assets. Its role is to administer and liquidate the relevant fund assets in compliance with the applicable legislation and the CMB decision.

What is the role of the Capital Markets Board?

The CMB is Türkiye’s regulatory and supervisory authority for capital markets. Its remit includes licensing and supervising portfolio management companies and other capital market institutions, regulating the establishment and operation of investment funds, enforcing public-disclosure requirements, and adopting administrative measures where unlawful conduct or financial instability is identified.

The CMB may, among other things:

request information and documents;
conduct reviews, inspections and investigations;
require infringements to be remedied;
temporarily suspend or restrict activities;
impose administrative measures, including trading bans on relevant persons;
decide that management of a fund should be transferred to another institution or that a fund should be liquidated;
impose administrative fines; and
notify the public prosecutor where there is a suspicion of criminal conduct.

The CMB does not, however, replace a court in a private-law dispute between an investor and an investment institution. Nor does it ordinarily calculate and pay an individual investor’s damages. A complaint to the CMB may trigger supervisory and enforcement action, but individual recovery may additionally require an YTM compensation process, recourse to an appropriate dispute-resolution mechanism, or legal proceedings against the persons allegedly responsible.

A submission to the CMB should therefore identify the specific alleged irregularity rather than simply state that the investor wishes to recover a loss. Relevant information may include:

the fund’s full name and code;
the number of participation units held;
the date and time of subscription or redemption instructions;
any instruction that was not completed;
the published unit prices;
MKK records and bank or brokerage statements;
inconsistencies with the investor information form or prospectus; and
supporting correspondence and documentary evidence.

What is the Investor Compensation Center?

Yatırımcı Tazmin Merkezi, commonly referred to by its Turkish abbreviation YTM, may be translated as the Investor Compensation Center. It is a public legal entity established to implement a compensation decision adopted by the CMB when an investment institution is unable to perform its obligations to pay cash or deliver capital market instruments arising from investment services and activities.

Two points are critical:

YTM does not make payments automatically whenever an investment loss occurs.
The compensation process requires the CMB to adopt an investor-compensation decision concerning the relevant investment institution and to notify that decision to YTM.

According to YTM’s official guidance, eligible claims concern an investment institution’s failure to pay cash or deliver capital market instruments belonging to an investor and held or managed on that investor’s behalf in connection with investment services, activities or ancillary services.

YTM is not a deposit insurance scheme

Investment funds are not bank deposits. YTM is not the Turkish equivalent of a general principal-protection or deposit-insurance mechanism for investment products.

The following circumstances do not, by themselves, give rise to YTM compensation:

a decrease in the fund’s unit price;
a fall in the market value of shares or other portfolio assets;
failure of an investment strategy to generate the expected return;
the sale of assets at depressed prices because of liquidity pressure;
receipt of less than the original investment following liquidation; or
losses arising from investment advice.

YTM expressly states that losses resulting from investment advice or market-price movements are outside the compensation scheme.

When may YTM become relevant?

YTM may become relevant where, for example, a capital market instrument that should exist in an investor’s account cannot in fact be delivered, or where an investment institution cannot return cash belonging to the investor. Even in such a case, payment is not automatic. A CMB compensation decision must exist, the investor’s entitlement must be established, the records must be examined, and the claim must fall within the statutory scope.

For 2026, the maximum YTM compensation amount per eligible investor is TRY 2,065,145. This amount is increased annually by the applicable revaluation rate. The ceiling does not mean that every investor will automatically receive that amount. The eligible claim is determined first; the statutory cap is then applied.

Once YTM announces the compensation decision and process, investors must submit their claims together with documents establishing their entitlement. The right to claim compensation becomes time-barred one year after publication of the compensation decision.

What is Takasbank’s role?

Takasbank is a central component of Türkiye’s capital-markets settlement and custody infrastructure. Its most visible function in relation to investment funds is operating the Türkiye Electronic Fund Trading Platform, known by its Turkish acronym TEFAS.

TEFAS enables investment funds admitted to the platform to be purchased and redeemed through the distribution channels of different banks and brokerage firms using a central electronic infrastructure. Takasbank also performs settlement functions relating to the relevant transactions and cash movements.

Takasbank’s involvement in the technical and settlement infrastructure does not make it responsible for every investment decision or decline in portfolio value. Nor should it be assumed that Takasbank is necessarily the portfolio custodian of every fund. The identity of the authorised portfolio custodian must be checked in the relevant fund documents published through KAP.

Takasbank and TEFAS records may be relevant when determining:

whether an instruction was transmitted to TEFAS;
the applicable value date and settlement cycle;
the stage at which a transaction was interrupted; and
the relevant cash and participation-unit movements.

In most cases, however, the investor’s first written request should be directed to the bank or brokerage firm through which the instruction was submitted and to the relevant portfolio management company, rather than directly to Takasbank.

What is MKK’s role?

Merkezi Kayıt Kuruluşu A.Ş., or MKK, is Türkiye’s central securities depository. It electronically records dematerialised capital market instruments and the associated rights by reference to member institutions and right holders. Investment fund participation units are likewise linked to investor accounts within the book-entry system.

MKK does not make investment decisions, calculate fund prices or guarantee liquidation proceeds. Its records are relevant to determining:

the fund and number of units held by an investor;
movements in those participation units;
account and identity information; and
any pledge, attachment or other registered restriction.

Investors may review their account and transaction information using MKK’s e-YATIRIMCI service. If the information displayed by a bank or brokerage firm differs from the MKK record, the investor should first submit a written request to the investment institution maintaining the account. If the discrepancy is not resolved, the MKK records should be preserved as evidence, and the matter may be reported to the CMB.

An MKK record confirms ownership and the number of participation units; it does not establish the market value of the portfolio or guarantee the amount payable in liquidation.

Liability of the portfolio management company

The portfolio management company is the capital market institution that establishes and/or manages the fund portfolio. It bears primary responsibility for implementing the fund’s investment strategy, executing portfolio transactions, maintaining risk-management and internal-control systems, conducting valuation processes, complying with public-disclosure obligations and managing the fund in accordance with the applicable legislation.

The company does not undertake to provide a specified return. Capital market investments inherently involve risk. Liability may nevertheless arise where an investor’s loss results from matters such as:

transactions contrary to the prospectus or investment strategy;
infringement of statutory concentration or risk limits;
failure to manage conflicts of interest in the investors’ interests;
false or misleading valuations;
unlawful related-party transactions;
breach of public-disclosure obligations; or
failure to exercise the required degree of care and loyalty.

An investor must identify not only the loss, but also the allegedly unlawful or contractual breach, the responsible person, causation and the heads of damage claimed. A decline in the unit price is not, by itself, proof of mismanagement. Conversely, describing a loss as a “market movement” does not automatically answer an allegation of unlawful transactions or improper valuation.

Duties and potential liability of the portfolio custodian

Portfolio custody is more than the physical or electronic holding of assets. Under Article 56 of the CML and the Communiqué on Principles Regarding Portfolio Custody Services and Institutions Providing Such Services, the portfolio custodian performs control and oversight functions concerning matters including:

custody of fund assets and maintenance of ownership records;
completion of asset and payment transfers in transactions conducted for the fund;
compliance of the issue and redemption of participation units with the legislation and fund documents;
verification that the unit price is calculated in accordance with the applicable rules and valuation principles;
use of fund income in accordance with the legislation; and
compliance of the portfolio management company’s instructions with the applicable rules.

A portfolio custodian may be liable to the fund and its investors for losses caused by failure to perform its duties. That liability is not automatic. The relevant control failure, its effect on the alleged loss and the causal link must be established in each case.

Where allegations concern a false unit price, an asset that did not exist in the portfolio, an unlawful payment, or a transaction manifestly contrary to the investment strategy, the statutory control duties of the custodian should be considered alongside the conduct of the portfolio management company.

Liability of the distributing bank or brokerage firm

Investors frequently purchase fund units through the bank or brokerage firm with which they maintain an investment account, rather than directly from the portfolio management company. The distributor and the fund manager may be different legal entities.

Depending on the circumstances, a distributor’s obligations may concern:

accurate and timely transmission of client instructions;
correct information regarding execution and value dates;
delivery of documents that must be provided to the investor;
proper performance of any required appropriateness or suitability assessment;
avoidance of misleading sales representations; and
accurate maintenance of client assets and records.

A bank or brokerage firm does not become responsible for every decline in the fund portfolio merely because it distributed the fund. It may, however, incur separate liability if it failed to transmit a clear redemption instruction, transmitted it incorrectly, or provided an untrue assurance about the product.

What may an investor claim, and from whom?

Issue	First point of contact and evidence source	Potential legal route
Participation units do not appear in the account	Bank/brokerage firm and MKK records	Correction of records; complaint to the CMB; assessment of YTM coverage if an actual shortfall exists
Redemption instruction was not completed	Bank/brokerage firm that received the instruction, portfolio management company and TEFAS records	Determination of the transaction’s status; damages for negligent or defective order transmission
Fund has entered liquidation	CMB decision, KAP disclosures and institution conducting the liquidation	Monitoring and receiving the pro-rata liquidation distribution; separate liability claim if unlawful conduct caused additional loss
Fund price or valuation is allegedly false	Portfolio management company, portfolio custodian, audit and KAP records	CMB investigation; damages against responsible parties; complaint to the public prosecutor where criminal conduct is suspected
Misleading marketing or sale	Distributor and portfolio management company	Contractual or tortious liability; appropriate dispute-resolution mechanism and court proceedings
Investor cash or capital market instruments cannot be returned	Investment institution records and MKK	YTM claim if the CMB has issued a compensation decision; other remedies for the amount exceeding the applicable limit
Ordinary market loss	Unit-price and portfolio information	As a rule, no YTM payment or liability compensation; ordinary investment risk remains with the investor
Suspected criminal conduct	CMB findings, transaction records and KAP disclosures	Report to the CMB, criminal complaint to the public prosecutor and, where permitted, participation in the criminal proceedings

Does a complaint to the CMB replace a claim for damages?

No. A regulatory complaint and a private-law claim serve different purposes.

A submission to the CMB asks the regulatory authority to investigate and, where appropriate, adopt supervisory measures or administrative sanctions. A damages claim seeks payment of a quantified loss from a particular person. An administrative sanction does not itself result in payment to the investor. Conversely, the absence of an administrative sanction does not invariably rule out civil liability.

Limitation periods and any mandatory procedural deadlines must therefore be monitored independently. Waiting only for the completion of a CMB investigation may create limitation risks for private-law claims.

The TSPB Customer Disputes Arbitration Committee may also be relevant

Where the counterparty is a member of the Turkish Capital Markets Association (“TSPB”) and the dispute arises from a capital-markets service provided by that member, the jurisdiction and application requirements of the TSPB Customer Disputes Arbitration Committee may be considered after the institution’s internal complaint process has been used. This route may be relevant in disputes concerning order transmission, client accounts, disclosure and the manner in which an investment service was provided.

The Committee does not replace the CMB’s supervisory powers, a YTM compensation process, or a criminal investigation. Eligibility should be reviewed in light of the respondent’s membership, the subject matter, any prior-application requirement, monetary limits and applicable deadlines.

Does a criminal investigation automatically compensate investors?

An investigation may be conducted where there is suspicion of market manipulation, insider trading, breach of trust, fraud or another criminal offence. Criminal proceedings seek to identify the offence and the offender, collect evidence and apply criminal sanctions.

Freezing or seizing assets belonging to suspects or defendants may be important for future recovery. It does not, however, mean that investors’ losses will automatically be reimbursed. It remains necessary to assess:

whether the investor was directly harmed by the alleged offence;
whether the investor may participate in the criminal proceedings;
the rules governing return of seized or confiscated assets;
whether separate civil proceedings or enforcement are required; and
how double recovery for the same loss will be prevented.

The presumption of innocence must be respected throughout ongoing investigations. No individual or institution should be presented as guilty unless and until responsibility has been established by a final court judgment.

Documents investors should preserve immediately

Relevant records may become more difficult to obtain as a dispute develops. Investors should preserve, as early as possible:

the fund’s full name and code;
the number and acquisition cost of participation units;
time-stamped subscription and redemption instructions;
confirmations issued by the bank or brokerage firm;
value-date and execution information;
MKK e-YATIRIMCI account statements;
bank and investment-account statements;
the investor information form, prospectus and issue documents;
risk-profile, appropriateness and suitability documentation;
screenshots from mobile or online banking applications;
correspondence with client representatives and requests for call recordings;
KAP disclosures and CMB decisions or bulletins; and
unit prices and portfolio-allocation reports.

Requests and complaints should be submitted through written, dated and verifiable channels wherever possible. If a telephone call is made, its date, time and reference number should be recorded.

Practical steps for investors

1. Verify unit holdings and transaction records

Compare the statement issued by the bank or brokerage firm with the MKK records. Establish the precise number of units, the date and time of each instruction, and the applicable value date.

2. Review official fund disclosures

CMB bulletins, KAP disclosures, the prospectus, investor information form and announcements by the institution conducting the liquidation should be reviewed together. Social-media commentary is not a substitute for an official disclosure.

3. Submit a written request to the correct institution

An order-transmission issue should be addressed to the distributor; fund management and valuation issues to the portfolio management company; ownership-record issues to the relevant MKK member using the MKK records; and alleged regulatory breaches to the CMB.

4. Classify the loss correctly

The legal route depends on whether the claim concerns:

an ordinary market loss;
a loss realised during liquidation;
defective order transmission;
missing cash or capital market instruments;
unlawful portfolio management;
improper valuation; or
misleading disclosure or sales practices.

5. Assess legal time limits without delay

Private-law limitation periods may continue to run while a CMB review, liquidation or criminal investigation is pending. For YTM, a specific one-year period runs from publication of the CMB compensation decision.

Frequently asked questions

If a fund is liquidated, will the state repay my principal?

No. Liquidation involves realising the fund assets and distributing the remaining proceeds to holders of participation units. As a rule, neither the state nor the institution conducting the liquidation must make up any shortfall in the original principal.

If the portfolio management company fails, do the fund assets pass to its creditors?

As a rule, no. The fund assets are segregated from the assets of the portfolio management company and the custodian and benefit from statutory protection.

Does YTM compensate a decline in the fund price?

No. Losses resulting from market-price movements or investment advice are outside the YTM scheme. YTM primarily becomes relevant where an investment institution cannot pay investors cash or deliver capital market instruments, and the CMB has adopted a compensation decision.

What is the maximum YTM compensation amount in 2026?

The maximum amount per eligible investor for 2026 is TRY 2.065.145,00. This is not a principal guarantee; it is the ceiling applied to a claim that has first been found eligible under the statutory scheme.

If my units appear in MKK records, is their value guaranteed?

No. The MKK record evidences ownership and the number of participation units. It does not guarantee the fund’s unit value or the amount payable in liquidation.

Must Takasbank compensate my loss?

Takasbank’s role in TEFAS and the settlement infrastructure does not amount to a guarantee against market losses. Any potential liability depends on the particular function it performed and whether a breach of that function can be established.

Will a complaint to the CMB result in repayment?

A complaint may trigger regulatory review and administrative measures; it is not, by itself, a debt-collection procedure. Compensation, liquidation distributions, an YTM application, dispute resolution and court claims must be assessed separately.

Is the bank responsible for losses in a fund that I purchased through it?

Not merely because it acted as distributor. Separate liability may arise, however, if the bank failed to transmit an instruction, executed it incorrectly, made misleading sales representations, or otherwise breached its own duties.

Conclusion

Investor protection during an investment fund crisis does not depend on a single institution or remedy. Segregation of fund assets, independent portfolio custody, MKK’s book-entry records, Takasbank and TEFAS infrastructure, the CMB’s supervisory and enforcement powers, and YTM’s limited compensation mechanism are complementary components of the system. They do not replace one another.

The central legal distinction is this: a decline in the value of the fund portfolio or a lower-than-expected liquidation distribution is not the same legal problem as an investment institution’s inability to return investor cash or deliver capital market instruments. The former ordinarily concerns investment and liquidation risk; the latter may, if the statutory requirements are satisfied, engage YTM compensation and the liability of the relevant investment institution.

The appropriate remedy must therefore be determined by the source of the loss, not merely its amount. The participation-unit records, order-transmission process, actual composition of the portfolio, valuation methodology, custody controls, public disclosures and sales process must be examined together before the correct respondent and legal claim can be identified.

in-novalegal advises on disputes involving investment funds and other capital market instruments, including the review of transaction and account records, submissions to the CMB, assessment of YTM coverage, liability of portfolio managers and custodians, and related litigation and enforcement proceedings.

This article is provided for general information only. It does not constitute investment advice or legal advice concerning any particular matter. Assessments relating to ongoing administrative and judicial proceedings may change as new official decisions and disclosures are issued.

Sources

Tagged CMB, Investment Funds, Investor Compensation Center, Investor Protection, MKK, Takasbank, YTM