A lot of banks in North Cyprus are not interested in having international students as customers or improving their offerings, it would seem.
The process of paying your fees and/ or handling financial transactions in the TRNC as an international student is tedious and ridiculously expensive. It is surprising that despite accounting for 25% of the total population and being a significant contributor to the GDP at 20% (the second largest sector after tourism), this challenge remains as a lot of banks in the TRNC are nonchalant and uninterested in having international students as customers.
A bank in North Cyprus. Credit: North Cyprus International
Many countries around host international students, several million of them at least according to the data from the United Nations.
Understandably, due to the current international status of the TRNC, financial transactions are heavily restricted. For example, banks in the TRNC do not belong to SEPA (The Single Euro Payments Area is a payment-integration initiative of the European Union for simplification of bank transfers denominated in euro). While this is true, it does not excuse the nonchalance from the banks, some of which is due to no/ low competition. The world when the sanctions where imposed and 2020 are very different times. A lot of things have changed.
for context, International students pay a minimum of €1.5k/ yr for school fees and £2k/yr for rent but should you attempt paying these monies via your account, the banks would have them blocked. You will be invited to the bank on the pretext of a meeting, your funds will be withdrawn and handed over to you, then the bank would close your account and proceed to threaten you with the police if you ever attempt to open another account, not just in that branch but in all of their branches and/or any other bank in the TRNC.
When you put into context that 80% of banks in northern #Cyprus are not interested or open to having international students as customers, you quickly begin to see why a lot of international students do not operate bank accounts in the TRNC.
The irony of this is that if the international student shows up at the bank with this same amounts to be deposited into the school’s account, the bank readily accepts the cash, no questions asked.
I once wrote the bank once demanding why their charges were so high on a student account and they replied that “by the DOB on the account, we expect the account holder to have been done with school”; thus using that as an excuse to justify the charges on the account.
Beyond paying fees, basic things like inter-bank transfer, checking your bank balance and/or withdrawing on other banks’ ATMs using your card attract charges. In #Nigeria, all of this is free. This is a quiet reminder of the under-development of banks in the TRNC.
Image credit: unsplash
With more than 100,000 students on the Island, more than 60,000 who are neither Turkish nor Turkish-cypriots lack financial inclusion. It is not clear why this persists and/or if it is deliberate. By denying this large number of people access to financial services, the banks and by extension, the economy loses and development is slower. One of the popular reasons given unofficially for this behavior by banks is that a high number of fraudulent transactions are carried out by students. A claim which is not relevant as the Dubai police arrested international scammer- Hushpuppi but this is not come at the expense of financial services for all the international students- whether from Africa or anywhere else who were living and studying in Dubai at the time.
Hushpuppi arrested by the Dubai police
Just beyond the TRNC barely an hour away by air, Turkey’s adoption of crypto-currency is picking up speed. According to Bitcoin.com, Turkey is a regional leader in bitcoin adoption. In Nigeria, after the CBN blocked the bank accounts of the #EndSars movement, the team switched to bitcoin and donations poured in from around the world. I wonder if banks in the TRNC are aware of this realties and the implications for their future.
Beyond all of this, with all the international sanctions on northern #Cyprus, I wonder why more businesses/ universities do not accept #crypto for payments yet as businesses in Turkey have especially when platforms like @binance now do direct-to-bank deposits and withdrawals and @cryptocom cards work like regular cards for users. Revolut is another contender in this space.
Revolut cards. Credit: unsplash.
2021 is another year for the TRNC to get back on track with the bulk of opportunities available. Would they?
