What Is State-Supported Trade Receivables Insurance in Türkiye?
A state-backed scheme covering receivables from credit sales, where each buyer's credit limit is set centrally rather than by the insurer.
State-Supported Trade Receivables Insurance (Devlet Destekli Ticari Alacak Sigortası) is a Turkish scheme covering businesses against buyers who fail to pay for goods or services sold on credit terms. Its most distinctive feature is that cover is not a single blanket sum: it operates through a separate credit limit assigned to each individual buyer. This article explains where the rules come from, who decides the limits, and where the cover stops.
What the Scheme Covers
A credit sale means the seller delivers goods or services first and collects payment later. In the gap between delivery and collection, a buyer's failure to pay leaves the seller having already absorbed its own costs with nothing in return. Trade credit insurance addresses exactly this exposure.
Two distinct structures address this risk in Türkiye. One is conventional trade credit insurance, written by insurers under the Trade Receivables (Credit) Insurance General Conditions — Ticari Alacak (Kredi) Sigortası Genel Şartları — published in SEDDK's index of general conditions. The other, and the subject of this article, is the state-supported scheme governed by its own Communiqué (Tebliğ).
What separates them is not the name of the cover but where the decision is made. Under the state-supported scheme, the credit limits granted to buyers are determined not by the insurer's own appetite but by the centre appointed to run the system.
Who Runs It and Where the Rules Come From
The framework is set by the Communiqué on the Tariffs, Instructions and Operating Principles of the State-Supported Trade Receivables Insurance System, published in Official Gazette no. 32066 of 7 January 2023, and subsequently amended by communiqués dated 6 December 2023 and 9 November 2024.
How buyer credit limits are determined is governed separately by Circular 2023/12, issued under article 12(5) of the Communiqué and published by the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Authority (SEDDK) on 22 March 2023.
That circular names the operator of the system explicitly: the Özel Riskler Yönetim Merkezi (Special Risks Management Centre), appointed under article 33/A of Insurance Law no. 5684. This centre determines each buyer's risk score.
The scheme's name has changed over time. Circular 2023/12 repealed circulars 2020/7 and 2021/18, which carried the phrase "Küçük ve Orta Ölçekli İşletmelere Yönelik" ("for small and medium-sized enterprises") in their titles. This is why the scheme is still often called SME receivables insurance in the market, although current legislation refers to it simply as the State-Supported Trade Receivables Insurance System.
Cover Works Buyer by Buyer
This is the point most often misunderstood. The policy does not place one undivided layer of cover over all of a business's credit sales. Cover is bounded by a credit limit set separately for each buyer. Where no limit has been granted for a buyer, receivables arising from that buyer fall outside the cover even while the policy is in force.
Article 3 of Circular 2023/12 lists the criteria taken into account when setting the credit limit for a buyer.
| Criterion listed in article 3 | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Turnover generated from credit sales | The volume of credit sales frames the scale of limit that can be requested |
| The limit the business requests for that buyer | The requested figure is where assessment starts, not where it lands |
| Financial information on the buyer | The party assessed is the buyer who owes the debt, not the seller |
| The buyer's risk score set by the Centre | The score comes from the Özel Riskler Yönetim Merkezi, not the insurer |
| Other information and documents required by the Authority | The assessment is not confined to a closed list |
If the Requested Limit Is Not Enough
A business may request a higher limit for a buyer than the one granted. Article 4 of the circular addresses this directly: following a risk assessment carried out by the Centre against the criteria in article 3, the credit limit granted for a buyer may be increased by up to twenty times.
That increase is not automatic. The second paragraph of the same article places the duty to supply the information and documents requested by the Centre squarely on the business seeking the insurance. Without those documents the reassessment does not advance.
Numerical elements such as indemnity percentages, maximum limits and premium tariffs are set in the Communiqué and its annexes and are revised periodically. We do not quote figures here; the tariffs and limits set in the Communiqué for the relevant year apply, and the current text should be verified from the sources listed below.
How the Application Proceeds
Because cover is granted buyer by buyer, the process differs from buying an ordinary policy. It runs in the following order:
- The business prepares an application listing the buyers it sells to on credit terms and the credit limit it requests for each.
- Turnover from credit sales and financial information on the buyers is added to the file.
- The Özel Riskler Yönetim Merkezi determines a risk score and a credit limit for each buyer.
- Once limits are settled the policy is issued, and cover begins only for those buyers granted a limit and only up to that amount.
- If a new buyer is added during the year or an existing limit needs raising, the limit is reassessed against the information and documents the Centre requests.
What the Cover Does Not Solve
Receivables insurance does not replace collection discipline. A credit sale to a buyer with no granted limit sits outside the scheme, and holding a policy does not bring that sale inside it. Checking a buyer's limit position before starting to trade on credit terms is considerably easier than trying to correct matters after the sale.
Nor does the scheme arbitrate a commercial dispute between you and your buyer. Claims that goods were defective, that work was delivered incomplete, or that the amount itself is contested are legal arguments distinct from non-payment risk. Keeping contracts and delivery records in order matters for the assessment of a receivable under the cover as well.
The full scope, exclusions and indemnity conditions are set out in your policy's specific terms and in the Communiqué. The policy wording defines the boundary of cover; a general explanation does not substitute for it.
What We Do as an Agency, and What We Do Not
RYL Sigorta Aracılık Hizmetleri is an insurance agency. Within this scheme, an agency's role is to set out the business's credit sales structure and buyer list accurately, to prepare the application through the insurance companies we act for, and to convey the resulting limits clearly.
What an agency cannot do is equally clear: we do not set the credit limit granted to a buyer and we do not assign the risk score. Those decisions rest with the Özel Riskler Yönetim Merkezi. The policy is issued by the insurance company, and any indemnity is paid by the insurance company.
If you sell on credit terms and want your buyer exposure assessed, you can contact us with your buyer list and credit sales volume.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where Are the Rules of This Scheme Set Out?
The framework is set by the Communiqué on the Tariffs, Instructions and Operating Principles of the State-Supported Trade Receivables Insurance System, published in Official Gazette no. 32066 of 7 January 2023 and amended by communiqués dated 6 December 2023 and 9 November 2024. The determination of buyer credit limits is governed by Circular 2023/12.
Does the Insurance Company Set the Buyer's Credit Limit?
No. Article 3 of Circular 2023/12 states that the buyer's risk score is determined by the Özel Riskler Yönetim Merkezi, appointed under article 33/A of Insurance Law no. 5684. The limit is then set against criteria that include that score.
Can a Limit Be Raised if It Proves Insufficient?
Under article 4 of the circular, where the requested limit exceeds the one granted, the credit limit for that buyer may be increased by up to twenty times following a risk assessment by the Centre. The business must supply the information and documents the Centre requests.
Is the Scheme Only for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises?
The scheme originally carried the phrase "for small and medium-sized enterprises" in its title. Circular 2023/12 repealed circulars 2020/7 and 2021/18 which bore that phrase, and current legislation refers to it as the State-Supported Trade Receivables Insurance System. Eligibility criteria are set out in the Communiqué and should be verified from the current text.
Is a Receivable From a Buyer With No Limit Covered?
Cover is bounded by the credit limit set for each buyer. A credit sale to a buyer with no granted limit falls outside that boundary. This is why the limit position should be checked before starting to trade with a new buyer on credit terms.
Sources
- Communiqué on the Tariffs, Instructions and Operating Principles of the State-Supported Trade Receivables Insurance System (Official Gazette, 7/1/2023, no. 32066)
- SEDDK — Circular 2023/12 on Determining Credit Limits Granted to Buyers under the State-Supported Trade Receivables Insurance System
- SEDDK — Circulars, Communiqués and Sector Announcements
- Insurance Law no. 5684 — Legislation Information System
- SEDDK — Insurance General Conditions
This article is for information only; the scope of cover is set by the policy’s specific and general terms.
Related Articles
Insurance GuideUnderinsurance and Over-Insurance in Turkish Policies
When the sum insured on a Turkish policy sits below or above the true value of the property, a partial loss produces two very different outcomes. The rule comes from the Commercial Code and the general conditions.
Read the Article
Insurance GuideWhat Is Legal Expenses Insurance in Türkiye?
Legal expenses insurance (hukuksal koruma sigortası) does not pay the damages you may owe the other side. It funds the cost of defending or pursuing your own legal interest, and the regulator's general conditions list each covered item.
Read the Article
Insurance GuideWhat Is Surety Insurance in Türkiye?
Surety insurance (kefalet sigortası) is the financial line in which an insurer stands as guarantor for a debtor and provides security to a named beneficiary. The insurer pays the beneficiary first, then recovers what it paid from the policyholder.
Read the Article