PayPal has been forced to suspend its payment service in Turkey from 6 June, having failed to receive a licence under new regulations that require firms to locate IT systems within the country.

According to the firm’s Turkish website, sending and receiving funds via PayPal accounts in the country will cease from next week.

The company told Techcrunch the decision will impact tens of thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of consumers.

Customers can log into their PayPal account and then move their balances to a Turkish bank account, PayPal’s local website said.

The firm applied for a licence under the new regulations but was rejected and told to suspend operations, it said. The new regulations insist on data being held locally. PayPal spreads its data across a number of global hubs.

The company said it will continue trying to get the necessary licence to resume operations in the country.