Freedom Holding Secures Historic Turkish Brokerage License to Launch Digital Financial Ecosystem

Freedom Yatırım Menkul Değerler A.Ş. has secured an operating license from the Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (CMB), marking the first time a foreign brokerage has received broad authorization in the country since 1992. For fintech professionals, this signals a significant reopening of the Turkish capital markets to international digital ecosystems and cross-border investment flows.

What was announced

Freedom Yatırım, a subsidiary of the NASDAQ-listed Freedom Holding Corp. (FRHC), is now authorized to provide brokerage services within Türkiye. This move is a central pillar of the Group’s strategy to export its international capital markets infrastructure into the region. The firm plans to deploy its proprietary trading platform, TraderNet, to create a two-way bridge between local Turkish investors and global markets.

The integration with Borsa İstanbul is already complete, which immediately opens the Turkish market to Freedom Holding Corp.’s existing network of over 870,000 client accounts worldwide. For domestic Turkish investors, the firm intends to gradually roll out access to international asset classes, leveraging the Group’s global brokerage capabilities. The expansion follows a period of rapid growth for the parent company, which reported total assets of US$14 billion as of June 30, 2026, with brokerage services generating approximately 39% of its total net revenue.

Operationally, Freedom Yatırım is currently in the final stages of system testing and regulatory readiness. The launch will focus on a technology-driven approach, adapting the firm’s international expertise to the specific regulatory requirements of the Turkish market. The goal is to capture a share of Türkiye’s increasingly sophisticated investor base, which has shown a growing appetite for portfolio diversification.

"Receiving this operating license is an important milestone for Freedom Holding Corp. It marks our entry into the Turkish brokerage market as the first broadly authorized foreign firm to receive such a license in 34 years,"

Timur Turlov, Founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp.

The companies involved

Freedom Holding Corp. is a multi-national financial services group headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and listed on the NASDAQ. The firm has a massive physical footprint, operating through more than 200 offices across 20 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. In Türkiye, the company has moved aggressively to establish a full-stack financial presence. This recently included the acquisition of a 99.32% stake in Turkish Bank A.Ş. via its subsidiary Freedom Finansal Hizmetler A.Ş., which has since been renamed Freedom Bank A.Ş.

The Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (CMB) serves as the primary regulatory body overseeing the country’s securities markets, maintaining strict standards for foreign entrants. Borsa İstanbul, the sole exchange entity in Türkiye, combines the former Istanbul Stock Exchange, the Istanbul Gold Exchange, and the Derivatives Exchange of Türkiye. By securing licenses from the CMB and integrating with Borsa İstanbul, Freedom Holding Corp. positions itself alongside major local players while bringing the weight of a global balance sheet and a specialized digital infrastructure that has already been proven in emerging markets across Central Asia.

What this means

This is a high-stakes play to replicate the "SuperApp" success Freedom Holding Corp. achieved in Kazakhstan. By pairing a newly licensed brokerage with the recently acquired Freedom Bank A.Ş., the firm is building a closed-loop digital ecosystem that few local Turkish competitors can match in terms of technological integration. The 34-year gap since the last foreign brokerage license of this type suggests the CMB is becoming more receptive to international firms that bring proprietary tech rather than just capital.

Incumbent Turkish brokerages are now under pressure to upgrade their digital interfaces as Freedom introduces TraderNet to the local population. The real metric of success will be how quickly Freedom can convert its 870,000 global users into active traders on Borsa İstanbul, potentially providing a significant liquidity injection to the Turkish market. Watch for the firm to aggressively bundle investment products with everyday banking services to drive user acquisition in the coming months.