Midas, the Istanbul-based FinTech firm, has reportedly submitted an application to Turkey’s central bank for an electronic money institution license, signaling a significant strategic pivot towards the consumer payments sector. The company’s ambition is to introduce a suite of digital consumer payment products, as confirmed by founder Egem Ersalan in an interview cited by Bloomberg News on Friday, June 19.
Strategic Shift to Digital Payments
Ersalan detailed plans for building a digital wallet and prepaid-card business, which will enable customers to spend funds held within their Midas accounts. This expansion is designed to move beyond the company’s established brokering operations. Bloomberg noted that this strategy bears resemblance to that of American brokerage firms like Robinhood, which ventured into the credit card business in 2024. Midas is also exploring the introduction of local and international money transfer services, further broadening its potential offerings in the payments landscape.
Turkey’s regulatory environment for electronic money institutions is already robust, with 57 such entities currently operating in the country, according to Turkey’s central bank as cited in the Bloomberg report.
Midas’s Growth Trajectory and Market Context
Established in 2020, Midas gained considerable traction during the COVID lockdown period, coinciding with a boom in Turkey’s retail equity investor population. The company currently serves approximately 4 million investors, providing access to local, U.S., and select European markets, alongside mutual funds and cryptocurrencies. This growth has been underpinned by a broader economic trend in Turkey, where rampant inflation in recent years has driven Turks to invest in equities as a means to protect their savings. The number of investors in this space has seen a five-fold increase over the past six years.
FinTech’s Evolving Relationship with Banking
Midas’s foray into the payments space aligns with a broader industry trend observed in America, where many FinTech companies are increasingly moving into the banking sector. Historically, FinTechs have operated by building ‘around’ banks rather than ‘as’ banks, a model PYMNTS highlighted earlier this year. This traditional strategy involved partnering with banks for access to payment rails, deposit insurance, and compliance infrastructure, thereby avoiding the complexities of building these from scratch.
While this partnership model offered speed, it also introduced fragility, as sponsor banks could unilaterally alter terms, and regulators might reinterpret guidance. Public scrutiny intensified following high-profile failures that exposed the limitations of banking-as-a-service models. However, PYMNTS also clarified that ‘getting a charter’ is not a singular concept. In the U.S., de novo banking charters encompass a variety of business models, each subject to different regulators, statutes, and privileges. Rodney E. Hood, former acting comptroller of the currency, emphasized the gravity of such a move in a January interview with Competition Policy International, stating, ‘A bank charter is not a trophy, and it certainly isn’t a product label, but it’s a public trust.’
Midas’s application for an electronic money institution license positions the company to directly engage with consumer payment services, reflecting both its organic growth ambitions and the wider industry shift towards more integrated financial service offerings.
