Investor

There was a time when owning shares meant holding a beautifully designed paper certificate in your hands, complete with watermarks, seals, signatures, and holograms. You could frame it and hang it on the wall, lock it in a safe, or pass it on to your grandchildren as a coming-of-age gift. There was something romantic about it—almost medieval—like owning land proven by a parchment deed.

But progress is relentless. The digitalization of the financial sector, which began in the 1990s, had by the 2020s almost completely eliminated physical share certificates. They were replaced by electronic records held in central depositories. Faster, cheaper, safer. They cannot be lost, stolen, or forged. They can be bought and sold with a single click.

Almost completely, however, does not mean entirely.

In Turkey, as in many other countries, there are still investors who hold physical share certificates of Turkiye Garanti Bankası. Some forgot to convert them into electronic form. Others never knew such a conversion was required. Some passed away, leaving heirs unaware that old certificates stored in a safe still have value. Others simply postponed dealing with the matter for years, assuming there was no urgency.

But the deadlines have now expired.

One of Turkey’s largest banks has announced that shareholders who still hold physical share certificates that were not dematerialized within the prescribed period must submit applications to the Investor Compensation Center no later than September 6, 2026.

This is not merely a formality. It is the last train leaving the station. Those who fail to act risk losing their rights to these shares permanently.

Let’s examine what happened, why the bank has taken this step, and what investors should do if they still possess these attractive—but legally ineffective without proper...