Turkey, US to launch automatic intelligence-sharing program

Turkish parliamentary commission approved a draft law on Thursday allowing “automatic" intelligence sharing between Ankara and Washington.

The draft law, which is expected to enter into action within next three months, will allow the two countries to exchange financial data in a bid to combat tax fraud.

According to the framework of the law, Turkey will have access to American investors in Turkey, while America can examine the account of Turkish nationals who have investments in the US.

Information will be exchanged “automatically" in a pre-determined period within mutual privacy.

When the bilateral agreement of international information sharing platform between countries' tax authorities goes into effect, both countries will have access to account holders' names, addresses, Tax ID numbers, account numbers, residual amounts and other information.

All banks and financial institutions are obliged to obey the new law.