REGULATION ON INVESTORS PROTECTION FUND

 

adopted and enacted by

the Capital Markets Board

by virtue of

the Law 4487 dated 15.12.1999 and

the Law 2499 dated 28.07.1981 and

published in the Official Gazette 

issue 24439 on June 21, 2001

 

 

PURPOSE AND SCOPE:

 

ARTICLE 1: The purpose of this Regulation is to set down the principles of management, operations and supervision of the Investors Protection Fund, and the principles and methods of use of the assets of the Fund, founded as a separate legal entity, for payment of the liquidation costs and expenses and for performance of the duties and functions referred to in article 46/B of the Law and for performance of the obligations o f p ayments in cash and of delivery of shares, arising out of the capital market activities and transactions and the share transactions, of the intermediary institutions which are decided to be progressively liquidated or are adjudged bankrupt, and of the banks which are in the scope o f p aragraph (a) of article 50 of the Capital Markets Law and of which banking activities and operations are stopped by a decision of the Council of Ministers, without prejudice to the relevant provisions of the Banks Law, toward their customers.

 

LEGAL GROUNDS:

 

ARTICLE 2: This Regulation is adopted and enacted by virtue of article 46/A of the Capital Markets Law 2499 dated 28/07/1981 revised and amended by the Law 4487 dated 15/12/1999 .

 

DEFINITIONS:

 

ARTICLE 3: For the purposes and in the context of this Regulation:

 

"Law" refers to the Capital Markets Law 2499;

 

"Board" refers to the Capital Markets Board;

 

"Fund" refers to the Investors Protection Fund;

 

"CRA" stands for the Central Registry Agency;

 

"Association" refers to the Association of Turkish Capital Markets Intermediary Institutions;

"ISE" stands for the Istanbul Stock Exchange; and

 

"Intermediary Institution" refers to the intermediary institutions and the banks governed by and subject to the Law.

 

COVERAGE OF PROTECTION:

 

ARTICLE 4: The obligations of the intermediary institutions to be paid and settled by the Fund within the frame of this Regulation are comprised of the shares that are delivered by a natural or legal person investor to the intermediary institution or are bought by the intermediary institution upon an order of its customer for sale, safe custody, management, transfer to another account, borrowing purposes or other reasons as a result of share transactions in the course of capital market activities and transactions, and of the cash paid by the investor to the intermediary institution for purchase of shares or for payment o f p rice of the purchased shares, and of the cash proceeds of sale of shares of a natural or legal person investor.

 

Shares and cash proceeds arising out of the financial rights associated to shares, such as dividends, bonus shares and preemption rights on newly issued shares, as well as the documents or certificates that may be issued by the issuers in place of shares shall also be in the coverage o f p rotection hereunder.

 

Cash proceeds covered by this article shall be excluded from the coverage o f p rotection hereunder if and when they are used in any transaction other than the share transactions for interest or other purposes.

 

The provisions of articles 11 and 25 of the Regulation on Principles and Procedures of Progresive Liquidation of Intermediary Institutions shall be applied in calculation of cash payments required to be made and in determination of the number of shares required to be delivered for settlement of share transactions in the coverage o f p rotection.

 

PARTICIPATION IN THE FUND:

 

ARTICLE 5: All intermediary institutions are obliged to participate in the Fund.

 

FUND MANAGEMENT:

 

ARTICLE 6: The Fund shall be headquartered in Istanbul . The Fund shall be managed and represented by CRA that is in charge of keeping records of capital market instruments, in accordance with the provisions of the Law and the principles of this Regulation. Decision making body of the Fund is the decision making body of CRA.

 

The Fund-related activities and transactions shall be managed and executed by a separate unit to be organized in CRA.

 

REVENUES OF THE FUND:

 

ARTICLE 7: Revenues of the Fund are:

 

a)           yearly subscriptions payable by the intermediary institutions;

b)           administrative fines inflicted by the Board and the Association and the exchanges where securities are traded;

c)           temporary subscriptions in an amount to be determined by the Board;

d)           proceeds of the Fund assets and properties; and

e)           other revenues and earnings.

 

Yearly subscriptions are required to be deposited in the Fund account by the end of the second month of the year following the relevant year, while temporary subscriptions are required to be deposited in the Fund account by the end of the period to be determined by the Board. Subscriptions not deposited in a timely manner shall be subject to default interests for each month of delay at a rate to be determined by the Board up to three times the rate of increase in the Consumer Prices Index of the previous month as published by the State Statistics Institute.

 

Yearly and temporary subscriptions and administrative fines shall be deposited in an account to be opened in the state-owned banks in the name of the Fund.

 

YEARLY SUBSCRIPTIONS:

 

ARTICLE 8: Yearly subscriptions to be deposited by the intermediary institutions in the Fund account shall be calculated in accordance with the following principles separately for each intermediary institution and bank.

 

If the yearly average of the ratio to be calculated by dividing the Capital Adequacy Base of an intermediary institution calculated monthly pursuant to the Communiqué of Principles on Capital and Capital Adequacy of Intermediary Institutions, serial V, no. 34, issued by the Board, by the Required Minimum Equity or the Risk Provisions or the Operating Expenses of Recent Three Months, whichever is the greatest, is:

 

a)      less than 1 fold, the intermediary institution shall be liable to deposit a yearly subscription equal to 100 per million of yearly average of its daily share safe deposit balances, and to 10 per million of its yearly share transaction volume; or

 

b)      between 1 fold and 2 folds (excluding 2 folds), the intermediary institution shall be liable to deposit a yearly subscription equal to 90 per million of yearly average of its daily share safe deposit balances, and to 7.5 per million of its yearly share transaction volume; or

 

c)      between 2 folds and 3 folds (excluding 3 folds), the intermediary institution shall be liable to deposit a yearly subscription equal to 85 per million of yearly average of its daily share safe deposit balances, and to 5 per million of its yearly share transaction volume; or

 

d)      3 folds or more, the intermediary institution shall be liable to deposit a yearly subscription equal to 80 per million of yearly average of its daily share safe deposit balances, and to 2.5 per million of its yearly share transaction volume.

 

These rates may be increased by the Board if and when deemed necessary by considering the existing or foreseeable risks.

 

Within the frame of the principles stipulated above, banks are liable to deposit yearly subscriptions over the rates to be determined by the Board for the yearly average of daily share safe deposit balances and for the yearly share transaction volumes on the basis of the saving deposits insurance premiums tariff issued pursuant to sub-paragraph (a) of sixth paragraph of article 15 of the Banks Law 4389 revised and amended by the Law 4491; providing, however, that these rates cannot be less than the rates of minimum yearly subscriptions to be determined for intermediary institutions.

 

Rates of yearly subscriptions to be paid over the yearly average of daily share safe deposit balances and the yearly share transaction volume by the banks that do not accept and collect deposits shall be determined by the Board between the minimum and maximum rates that are determined for other banks.

 

Intermediary institutions are under obligation to report to the Fund, by the 15th day of January every year, their share transaction volumes separately as transaction volume in exchanges and transaction volume in the over-the-counter market for calculation of yearly subscriptions. CRA shall be authorized to request all kinds of information and documents with regard to the said transaction volumes from intermediary institutions and other relevant entities and authorities, and to conduct inspections in intermediary institutions in connection therewith.

 

For the purpose of calculation of yearly subscriptions, the share safe deposit amounts shall be determined and calculated by ISE Clearing and Safe Custody Bank Co., Inc. by using the daily weighted average prices of shares separately for each intermediary institution and be reported to the Fund by the 15th day of January every year.

 

In calculation of share safe deposit balances, the average daily investor blockings imposed by the investors on their accounts in the year immediately before the current year shall be deducted from yearly average of daily share certificate safe deposit balances.

 

The intermediary institutions which were not active in the year immediately before the current year shall, within 5 business days following receipt of an operation license from the Board, deposit in the Fund account a yearly subscription equal to average of the yearly subscriptions deposited by the intermediary institutions in the current year. If the authorization is granted before the end of the second month of the current year, the intermediary institution shall pay its yearly subscription within the period mentioned in second paragraph of article 7 hereof. The banks which have received a banking license and are going to deal with the capital market activities and transactions in accordance with the applicable laws shall, within 5 business days following start of capital market activities, deposit in the Fund account a yearly subscription equal to average of the yearly subscriptions deposited by the banks in the current year. If the capital market activities are started before the end of the second month of the current year, the bank shall pay its yearly subscription within the period mentioned in second paragraph of article 7 hereof.

 

TEMPORARY SUBSCRIPTIONS, AND ADVANCE PAYMENTS BY ISE TO THE FUND:

 

ARTICLE 9: Where the Fund's assets and properties are not sufficient for its payments and costs, the intermediary institutions may be charged with a temporary subscription at a rate to be determined by the Board within the frame of the principles set forth in article 8 above.

 

Temporary subscriptions shall be set off from the yearly subscriptions payable by the intermediary institutions in the first year after they are not needed any more. The rate of interest to be applied on the temporary subscriptions received in the previous years shall be determined by the Board.

 

If temporary subscriptions received from the intermediary institutions are also not sufficient for payments and costs of the Fund, ISE shall pay advances to the Fund. Amount, maturity, interest rate, repayment and other conditions of advances shall, upon proposals of CRA, be determined by the Board in due consultation with ISE.

 

COLLECTION OF FINES:

 

ARTICLE 10: The administrative fines inflicted by the Board and the Association shall be deposited by the relevant entity to the Fund account within 30 days after receipt of the notice thereof.

 

The administrative fines inflicted by the Board and the Association shall be reported to the Fund at the same time with delivery of the notice thereof to the relevant entity.

 

If and to the extent not paid to the Fund within 30 days after receipt of the notice by the relevant entity, these fines shall be prosecuted and collected by the Fund and credited to the Fund account in accordance with the proviso of the Law on Collection Procedures of Public Receivables, no. 6183.

 

The administrative fines inflicted by the exchanges where securities are traded shall be prosecuted and collected by the relevant exchanges in accordance with their own special laws and regulations, and shall be deposited in the Fund account in two business days after collection.

 

METHODS AND PRINCIPLES OF USE OF THE FUND PROPERTIES:

 

ARTICLE 11: The Fund properties and assets shall be invested in state bonds, treasury bonds or deposits or in reverse repurchase agreements in the state-owned banks.

 

The Fund properties and assets cannot be pledged, shown or used as collateral, or attached by third parties.

 

EXPENSES:

 

ARTICLE 12: The costs and expenses incurred by the Fund for performance of its duties vested by the Law and this Regulation shall be paid by the Fund in accordance with the principles to be determined by CRA and approved by the Board.

 


 SUPERVISION OF THE FUND:

 

ARTICLE 13: The Board is authorized to inspect and audit the accounts and transactions of the Fund and to request all kinds of information and documents from the Fund in relation therewith. Depending on the results of inspection and audit, the Board may request the Fund to take certain actions, and if required, may demand the Minister, to whom the Board reports, to transfer the Fund management to the Board.

 

The Fund shall be audited by the Supreme Court of Accounts.

 

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND REPORTS:

 

ARTICLE 14: Accounting period of the Fund is a calendar year. The Fund shall prepare an activity report containing its yearly balance and income statement and its activities in the past accounting period and its comments and suggestions on the next accounting period and the actions required to be taken, and shall submit its report to the Board by the end of January every year. 

 

BOOKS, RECORDS AND DOCUMENTS OF THE FUND:

 

ARTICLE 15: Principles on books and records of the Fund shall become effective upon approval of the Board.

 

The Fund-related documents and correspondences shall be duly and separately filed and kept.

 

INFORMATION TO INVESTORS; BAN ON ADVERTISEMENTS:

 

ARTICLE 16: During their capital market activities related to the share transactions, the intermediary institutions are under obligation to give sufficient data and information to the investors about the Fund and the coverage o f p rotection by the Fund.

 

The intermediary institutions cannot use for advertisement purposes the protection coverage provided by the Fund to the investors.

 

REPORTING TO THE BOARD:

 

ARTICLE 17: The Fund shall prepare and issue monthly reports containing a detailed breakdown of the Fund properties and assets by types thereof, and information about intermediary institutions in liquidation process and the collections and payments in connection therewith, and shall submit these monthly reports to the Board by the end of the 5th business day of the following month.

 


EXCEPTIONS AND EXEMPTIONS:

 

ARTICLE 18: The Fund is not subject to and governed by the 2886 State Bid Tenders Law and the provisions of the General Accounting Law no. 1050 and the Supreme Court of Accounts Law no. 832 in terms of visa and registration requirements.

 

The Fund is exempted from all types of taxes, imposts and duties.

 

OTHER PROVISIONS:

 

ARTICLE 19: The Board shall be authorized to interpret the provisions of this Regulation, and to take decisions and to regulate and direct the implementation on the matters on which this Regulation remains silent or contains gaps, by also considering the general law provisions.

 

TEMPORARY ARTICLE 1: The subscriptions required to be paid by the intermediary institutions over the monetary value of their transaction volumes in years 1998 and 1999 pursuant to temporary article 9 of the Law shall be deposited in the Fund account within 1 month after the effective date of this Regulation, over the rates to be determined by the Board within the frame o f p rinciples set down in article 8 of this Regulation. In the case of failure in payments on time, the payments in default shall be subject to default interest at the rate specified in second paragraph of article 7 hereof, and shall be collected by the Fund. The data of the 2000 capital adequacy tables shall be considered in grouping of the intermediary institutions in accordance with second paragraph of article 8 hereof.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE:

 

ARTICLE 20: This Regulation shall become effective as of the date of foundation of the Central Registry Agency pursuant to first paragraph of article 10/A of the Capital Markets Law 2499.

 

ENFORCEMENT:

 

ARTICLE 21: The provisions of this Regulation shall be enforced by the Capital Markets Board.