Rule
The Currency and Exchange Law does not require a TRNC foreign-exchange bureau's (döviz bürosu) founders or shareholders to be TRNC citizens. Founder/shareholder conditions are fit-and-proper and anti-money-laundering criteria applied equally; for founders who are not TRNC citizens and/or not resident in the TRNC, the law's own text states that the legislation of their home country is additionally taken into account, and only persons who are not qualified to found an exchange bureau in their own country are excluded on that specific ground.[1]
Exceptions
- This is a NEGATIVE finding: no TRNC-citizenship or ownership-percentage restriction was found in Article 9 of the Currency and Exchange Law, read in full for this question. It is not proof no such restriction exists in the Law's delegated tüzük.
- This Rule does not address minimum capital (EUR 300,000 equivalent, Art. 9(1)(F)) or licensing procedure beyond the specific ownership/nationality question.
- A structurally similar but foreign-ownership-DIFFERENTIATED capital requirement exists for jewellers (kuyumcu) under the same Law's Article 14 — a doubled up-front deposit the Ministry requires where any shareholder is not a TRNC citizen — which is a distinct finding from FX bureaux and not addressed by this Rule.