Rule
Unlike an insurance or reinsurance company, a TRNC insurance agency (sigorta acentesi) — the intermediary/distribution role, not the underwriting company — must have a TRNC-citizen founder, and its shareholders and any person acquiring shares (including by capital increase) must also be TRNC citizens.[1]
Exceptions
- This Rule addresses the AGENCY (distribution/intermediary) layer only. It does NOT apply to insurance or reinsurance COMPANIES themselves — see the companion Rule insurance-company-foreign-ownership-no-citizenship-bar, which finds no such restriction at that layer. Do not generalise across the sector in either direction.
- A 2025 amendment (Law 36/2025) added a transitional rule for agencies that already existed before the amendment: their existing foreign shareholders (as of the amendment) are grandfathered, but any NEW share transfer or capital-increase share acquisition by a non-TRNC-citizen is barred going forward, confirming this is a currently tightened, actively enforced restriction, not a legacy provision.
- Insurance BROKERS (a related but distinct intermediary category, Article 59) require TRNC residence for individuals, not the same explicit shareholder-citizenship rule stated for agencies — this Rule does not extend to brokers, which were not verified with the same rigor.