Turkey's Digital Finance Transformation: Internet Banking Usage Hits Peak

Under the light of data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), a critical threshold has been passed in the digitization journey of the financial economy; while internet usage rates in the country have reached 92.3%, the migration from physical branches to digital channels in the banking sector has accelerated. Citizens' orientation towards mobile applications and internet banking, which offer transaction speed and accessibility, has turned into a statistical explosion over the last five years.

Cumulative Rise in Digital Banking

The democratization of technology and the operational efficiency offered by digital branches have triggered a fundamental change in personal financial management. Data from the last five years reveals that this transformation has not only accelerated but also gained a mass nature:

■The internet banking usage rate, which was 61.3% in 2022, rose to 67.1% in 2023.

■In 2024, this rate reached 71%, climbing to 73.2% in 2025.

■As of this year, the rate has risen to 75.9%, confirming that 3 out of every 4 individuals in the 16-74 age group conduct banking transactions digitally.

Demographic Divergence and the Gender Factor

When digitization data is deepened, a distinct difference in financial technology (fintech) access between genders stands out. The adaptation speed of men to digital banking follows a more aggressive trajectory compared to women:

■The internet banking usage rate among men reached 87.5% (it was 74.3% in 2022).

■Among women, this rate stands at 63.7% (it was 47.1% in 2022).

New Data in Communication and Media Consumption

Besides financial transactions, data regarding internet usage purposes also illuminates other dynamics of the digital economy. While traditional email usage remains flat, a new market segment is emerging in audio content consumption:

■The "sending or receiving e-mail" rate declined to 48.1% this year from a level of 45.2% five years ago.

■The rate of listening to or downloading podcasts was measured at 13.3% overall.

■In this field, women performed higher than men (12.7%), with a rate of 13.9%.

Seda Çetin Analysis: Markets should read this data not just as a statistical set, but as a signal of potential improvement in operational cost advantages and net interest margins in banking stocks. A digitization rate of 75.9% will price the decline in branch opening costs and the increase in digital service revenues. Algorithmic bots have likely started pricing the sharp decline to be seen in "branch personnel expenses" items in bank profitability reports as a continuation of this trend.