Voluntary Participation (IPS) Auto Enrollment System (AES) Funds Legislation Data Center

Individual Pension Intermediaries

Who Are Individual Pension Intermediaries, and What So They Do?

Individual pension intermediary or “Intermediary” in short, is the entity that acts as an intermediary for promotion, information and sales transactions for the pension contracts offered to participants by the pension company, or conducts these transactions on behalf of the pension company.

An intermediary advises those who wish to enter the Individual Pension System by taking into consideration their age, return expectations, income goals during retirement, and the system's long-term status based on the risk profiles. It provides advice on pension plan selection and fund distribution. It draws up the necessary information and documents about the individual pension contract based on the participant's requests. In short, intermediaries perform highly critical functions in the system.

Foreign nationals, as well as Turkish citizens, may become individual pension intermediaries, provided that they meet the requirements explained in relevant sections.

Where Can You Work as An Individual Pension Intermediary?

As an individual pension intermediary, you can work at pension companies, insurance and individual pension agencies, insurance brokers, banks, capital market intermediary institutions, and similar financial organizations as a(n);

  • Individual Pension Specialist
  • Financial Consultant
  • Individual Assurance Consultant/Specialist,

What Other Areas Can I Work in by Having An Individual Pension Intermediary License?

Having complete knowledge on the individual pension system and being highly literate and adept in financial issues, you can work as a(n);

  • Consultant at law offices and consultancy companies,
  • Instructor at educational institutions,
  • Personnel or executive at financial institutions that attach importance to individual pension intermediary competencies

What Do You Need to Do to Become An Intermediary?

You can become an intermediary by succeeding in the Individual Pension Intermediaries Exam (e-BEAS) by the Pension Monitoring Center.

What Is the Individual Pension Intermediaries Exam (e-BEAS)?

e-BEAS is a compulsory exam for obtaining a license for individual pension intermediary operations. The Pension Monitoring Center conducts it on a computer platform with multiple choice questions. The exam aims to test the individual pension intermediary candidates' professional competencies, knowledge and skills.

What Educational Background Is Required to Take the Exam?

You are required to meet one of the following conditions to take the exam:

  • University Graduates: You must have graduated from a four-year higher education institution.
  • Graduates of Some Associate Degree Programs and Vocational High Schools: The exam is open to graduates of two-year banking, insurance, stock market, finance, business, treasury, securities and capital market, accounting, money and capital management, marketing and sales management associate degree programs, or of programs with similar educational content approved by the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency.
  • Students: If you are a student in one of these educational institutions, you may take the exam; however, to obtain the Individual Pension Intermediary License, you must submit the graduation certificate to us within one year after taking the exam.
  • Graduates of high school or equivalents: If you are a graduate of these schools, you need to meet the following conditions;

    • By the exam application date, having worked for at least one year in the past three years at pension or insurance companies, insurance agents or brokers, banks, capital market intermediary institutions, or at similar financial institutions approved by the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency,
    • Having successfully completed an individual pension course or internship within the scope of public employment programs approved by the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency.

Who Are Not Allowed to Become or Act as An Intermediary?

Even if you succeed in the Individual Pension Intermediaries Exam, you shall not earn the right to obtain a certificate under the following conditions. If you are already a licensed intermediary;

  • If you are bankrupt or going into administration,

  • If you have been convicted of the crimes specified in Article 8(3), paragraph (g), sub-paragraph (3), of the Law No. 4632,

your license may be canceled.

How Does the e-BEAS Application Process Work?

The following steps must be taken when applying for e-BEAS:

1. Register with the Private Pension Intermediary Portal.

Individual Pension Intermediary Portal is an electronic platform that was established by the PMC, that requires candidates to register in order to apply for the Individual Pension Intermediaries Exam, that allows candidates, intermediaries, and pension companies to carry out business and related transactions regarding the exam, the records of intermediaries and the supplementary training and to follow up with the exam, results, license, sales authorization and supplementary training, and that allows exchange of information with candidates, intermediaries and companies.

You can access this electronic platform here and register via e-Government by logging in with your TR identification number and password.

You can use the Portal to;

  • Apply for the exam, pick an exam date and location,

  • Take the exam,
  • Apply for sales authorization,

  • Participate in supplementary training program,

  • Get exam results, follow up with your license and sales authorization application and carry out related transactions,

  • Obtain the exam admittance form, the exam result form and the license document.


The dates of the exams shall be set by the PMC and announced on the PMC website. You can apply via the Portal at any time by selecting the exam date.

You can apply in person to e-BEAS. If you work or plan to work at a pension company, you are required to make the application through this pension company.

2. Complete the application form on the Private Pension Intermediary Portal.

Once you register with the Private Pension Intermediary Portal, you must fill in the required information and upload the documents required at the time of application on the Portal.

  • A school certificate (if you are a graduate, a diploma or temporary graduation certificate obtained through e-Government or a certified copy of the relevant document showing your graduation status; if you are a student, a student certificate indicating that you are a student from the educational institution you are a student at or the e-Government),

  • Your photo taken within the last six months,

  • If you are not a graduate from a university, or from approved associated degree programs or vocational high schools;

    • An Employment Document and Social Security Statement (a statement obtained from http://www.turkiye.gov.tr, http://www.sgk.gov.tr, or the Social Security Institution, which indicates that you have worked as company personnel at pension companies, insurance agencies, insurance brokers, banks, capital market intermediary institutions or similar financial institutions approved by the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency for at least [1] one year within the previous three [3] years as of the date of your application for the exam) and a document (Appendix-3, Appendix-4) signed by the authorities of the institution or the relevant pension company at which you have been employed for at least one (1) year within the previous three [3] years as of the date of your application for the exam or an employment document containing, at minimum, the information contained in Appendix-3, Appendix-4,

or

      • A document that shows that you have successfully completed an individual pension intermediary course or internship within the scope of public employment programs approved by the Insurance and Private Pension Regulation and Supervision Agency.

In addition to the above stated documents, additional documents must also be provided under the following conditions:

      • If you are foreign national, a certified copy of your passport,

      • If you have received your diploma from an educational institute from abroad, a certified copy of the equivalence certificate issued by the Higher Education Council,

      • In case of a surname discrepancy in your application documents, you must submit your identification card, provided that the “maiden name” field in your marriage certificate is filled out; if your surname has changed, a photocopy of the court order regarding the last name change or a certificate of identity register copy obtained from e-Government.

      • If you are successful in the technical personnel exam conducted by the Insurance Training Center (SEGEM), a stamped and signed copy of the SEGEM technical personnel qualification certificate that shows its “same as original”, which certifies that you are successful, by the company or the relevant official institution.

    You can re-apply on the Private Pension Intermediary Portal and enter the e-BEAS in any number of times as you wish until you are successful in the exam. In the event of a change in the information and documents you have declared in your previous application, or if their validity period expires, the current documents showing your information changes in your new application must be added to the fields specified during the application.


    3. Select the exam format and location.

    Exams are generally conducted remotely on the platform where the candidates log in via e-Government from their computers. If deemed necessary, the PMC may also conduct in-person exams. The exam date, exam type and place are announced on the PMC website.  In the “Exam Type and Place” field, you must submit your application by choosing “Online Exam – Individual Pension Intermediaries Portal” for online exams or “In-Person Exam – Pension Monitoring Center” for in-person exams. You can participate in the online exam session by clicking the “Click to Take the Exam” button on the “Individual Pension Intermediaries Portal” section of the PMC website (https://www.egm.org.tr). To apply for the online exam, you are expected to read and approve the explicit consent text and the letter of commitment. If you do not approve, you cannot take the online exam. The explicit consent text and the letter of commitment are not present for in-person exams.

    4. Complete the step “Click to Test the Device You Will Use While Taking the Exam” and read the Online Exam Candidate Guide.

    To avoid any problems during the exam, you are advised to complete the online exam requirement technical tests that are presented at the application stage and made available through the portal until the commencement of the exam. You must take the online exam with a computer that passes the technical test. Otherwise, any problems encountered during the exam will fall under the responsibility of the candidate.

    The technical test for the online exam is meant to provide sample exam questions to ensure that the candidate faces no problems when viewing and answering the questions, determine that the candidate can communicate with the invigilator by sharing his/her online audio and video via Zoom, that the candidate has downloaded and installed the Safe Exam Browser that enables him/her to view and answer the questions securely, and that the candidate’s microphone and camera works well and his/her internet connection is reliable.

    The Online Exam Candidate Guide includes preliminary information on the online exam, system requirements, and on-screen explanations.


    5. 
    Pay your exam fee.

    The e-BEAS fee is as follows:

        • 2,100 Turkish lira for first time takers,

        • 1,050 Turkish lira for retakers.

    If you apply individually, you can pay for the exam yourself, and if you are taking the exam through a pension company, your company can pay it for you.

    The exam fee is paid by the individual applicants by credit card, and for the applicants applying through a pension company, by the pension company to the account designated by the PMC.

    You can access the account details you can make payments on the Portal.

    6. Ensure that the application form and the exam fee you have transferred via the portal are received by the Pension Monitoring Center.

        • Individual application

    If you wish to apply to e-BEAS individually, you can send your application to the PMC using the portal after filling in the information requested during your application via the Private Pension Intermediary Portal, uploading the required documents, choosing an exam date, and paying the exam fee by credit card.

        • Application through the pension company on behalf of which you will act as an intermediary

    If you wish to apply to the e-BEAS through the pension company for which you will acts as an intermediary, you must fill in the information requested during your application via the Private Pension Intermediary Portal, upload the required documents and deliver them to the pension company for which you will acts as an intermediary. Your pension company shall then follow up on the process.

    7. Check your exam date.

    Information about the dates and locations of the exams for the approved candidates shall be posted through the Private Pension Intermediary Portal at least five (5) business days before the exam date.

    If you are eligible to enter e-BEAS, you can obtain your exam admittance forms via the Portal as of the date of information regarding the exam finalization.

    Keep this document and your identification document (photo identity card, T.R. identity card or photo driver’s license with the T.R. identification number; for foreign nationals, a passport) with you when taking the exam.

    What Are the Topics of the e-BEAS Questions and How Can You Prepare for the Exam?


    e-BEAS exam topics and the number of questions per topic are as follows:

    e-BEAS Question Breakdown

    EXAM TOPICS

    NUMBER OF QUESTIONS

    WEIGHT IN THE AVERAGE (%)

    Basic Business Management and Economics

    5

    5

    Finance and Investment Instruments

    15

    15

    Insurance Business

    5

    5

    Sales Management and Marketing

    15

    15

    Participation Based Individual Pensions

    15

    15

    Pension Systems, Individual Pension System Legisation, and Other Relevant Legislation

    45

    45

    TOTAL

    100

    100

    Candidates who will be exempted from the insurance subject are considered to have answered the questions on this subject correctly. To that end, candidates who are exempt from the insurance subject are responsible for answering 95 questions in the exam.

    Our webpage provides a list of questions that will be asked on the e-BEAS.

    What You Need to Do After Becoming an Individual Pension Intermediary?

    1. You must conduct your intermediary operations in accordance with the principles set forth in the regulation.

    The Individual Pension System is a long-term arrangement: It aims to maintain during retirement the same level of wealth that individuals enjoy while saving up, by accumulating savings through investment of the money they save regularly during their work life. The individual pension intermediary must accurately convey the system's operations to those wishing to enter and advise them accordingly. While doing this, the intermediary must avoid any actions that may jeopardize the participant's rights and interests, and act in accordance with the legislation and the goodwill principles.

    2. You must participate in the PMC’s supplementary training sessions. Otherwise, you certificate shall be revoked.

    It is compulsory to complete the PMC's supplementary training once within two years of becoming an Individual Pension Intermediary, and afterwards, once every year. Following topics are included in the training sessions:

    • Current Developments in the Legislation
    • Individual Pension Account Legislation
    • Social Security Legislation
    • Other Relevant Legislation
    • Periodic Economic Data
    • Minimum Wage, Tax Brackets, SSI Premium Lower and Upper Limits, Inflation, Foreign Trade Balance Data, Budget Realization Data, Gross Domestic Product
    • Periodic Social Data
    • Population and Employment Data
    • Pension Mutual Funds and Alternative Investment Instruments
    • Income from Alternative Investment Instruments
    • Pension Mutual Funds
    • Current Developments
    • Participation Based Private Pension Activities

    In addition to compulsory training above, there is also a Participation-Based Private Pension Activities Training prepared by the Agency within the scope of Regulation on Insurance and Private Pension Activities within the Framework of Participation Principles dated 9 December 2020 and numbered 31339, for which participation is requested. The said training aims to ensure the development of individual pension intermediaries in the field of participation finance and the intermediaries to accurately inform and guide participants who are conscious about interest in the provision of products and services.

    Failing to participate in supplementary training for three consecutive periods shall result in revoking the intermediary's certificate.