so a tax no. is easy to obtain and about all you need to open a bank account in Turkey.
HSBC Turkey seems to have no useful affiliation with HSBC rest of the world, meaning that you are unable to deposit money in your 'foreign' HSBC account in Turkey without incurring their disgustingly exhorbitant international transfer charge. if you are earning lira you are therefore obliged to open an account in Turkey.

So, accordingly,i am banking lira, and i have the option of converting it into a more stable foreign currency (pounds, dollars, or euro) and holding it in a 'foreign currency account'. this conversion of course costs. (conversion-1). but here's (yet another) rub: if i want to travel outside the country, and access my money in the normal way through a (maestro or visa) debit card from an ATM, i apparently can't access money in this euro account directly, and am expected first to convert it back into lira via internet banking (conversion-2), and then withdraw this from the ATM which will of course convert it into the local currency (conversion-3) which strikes me as at least one conversion too many given that i'm fleeced of money each time for what amounts to more or less nothing!

I am told that all the banks in Turkey are this well equipped to serving their travelling customers. Perhaps it is this way everywhere, i don't know, but does anyone have any suggestions as to a better system for storing and accessing from abroad what is currently in the form of lira?

I'd appreciate any advice,
take a rain-check on the personal insults though if you don't mind.

exactly, I understand your problem. Its very difficult to do any kind of banking with out being hammered by huge fee's, you probably know already but I would take your salary (paid in ytL) to any exchange to covert to Euro or Dollars etc. as they offer the best rates (dont convert in banks unless its a small amout) keep most of your salary in a Euro account or USD. You can keep just a "cash flow amount" in the YTL account. When you go to Europe etc. bump up the YTL account just incase you will need to use your ATM On international transfers I have seen afew Western Union agents about, maybe they can offer a reasonable solution for you.

If you hear anything or find a bank to offer a good service let me know too.

Good luck. (none abusesive reply)

A better way of banking would be to convert the Lira into Euro or pound (if you're being paid in TL then you have little choice), then have a credit card in that currency for travelling abroad, at least in this manner the credit card repayment would be a like for like transfer and should incur no additional charges.

This does of course assume that the banks in Turkey offer credit cards in a foreign currency, which someone else may be able to advise.

However the point you raise is common throughout the world and is intended mainly to keep the bank's shareholders happy!

As I will be retiring to Turkey in February next year, my wife who is now there has been putting our money in a Canadian dollar account in our local Fortis branch. (I live in Canada at the moment) Right now I am happy, as the Cdn dollar is at a 35 year high, today it is at almost 1.01 USD. There seems to be no problem, at least at Fortis at keeping money in a foreign currency account. My wife's best friend is the bank manager, and she suggested this. Of course, the interest rate is much lower in line with interest rates over here, but the currency is stable. I agree with Iceman, keep in Euro or dollar (USD or CAD), and have a lira account for the day to day stuff, and for when travelling. Although I do believe the YTL is going through a period of stability, and will probably stay that way for the short term future.

Cheers,
Steve

hi,
even though turkish lira is stable for now.there might be a correction until 1.25 or 1.30 as turkish lira come from a long way from 1.65 since last year.just mind ful of the carry trade unwinding as long as u keep an eye on it.you can be assured your risk and returns are evenly matched.i try to use (xxx) where i can trade forex also.so even though my money is physically in a bank in turkey i can still leverage my postion by buying dollars there by cancelling out any lira weakness until that particualr time.and more over when ever lira fall it falls quite fast so this method works for me.any thing else just email me ya.have a profitable year

Euro is trading in high rate comparing to dollar and it is expected to continue the momentum for another year.

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