Contrary to popular belief, jewelery and sarraflık are very different from each other. Jewelers buy and sell gold and silver, as well as repair and manufacture, whereas the sarrafs are the only ones who buy and sell gold and silver and valuable paper trade. In recent years, as the banks started to open gold accounts and attract under-the-pillow investments to the banks, those who make the profession of money exchange have started to be in a difficult situation. On the one hand, the number of people who buy and sell gold from the sarrafs began to decline, while the sectoral market contracted.
Sarrafs first came into being with the use of precious metals such as gold and silver as a merchandise. With the emergence and operation of new gold mines and the conquest of new countries, gold has become a commodity of trade especially in the Middle Ages. As the end of the Middle Ages, Muslim sarrafs started to increase in number. During the Ottoman period, sarrafs were among the most important actors of the economy and the financial system and carried out activities such as lending, corrupting, transferring and maintaining money. Moreover, the activities of the Istanbul sarrafs directly affected many sectors of strategic importance. Therefore, the state had to control the sarrafs of Istanbul.
During the Ottoman period, the profession of sarraf was generally carried out by minorities. During this period, the Turks generally engaged in military service and administration, minorities such as sarraflik, trade and interest. The prohibition of interest by Islamic religion was also effective in this. Until the second half of the nineteenth century, bankers and sarrafs carried out activities similar to banking activities, such as lending money to the state, exchanging various currencies with one another, and operating other ones.
ISO 9001 Standard for Sarraflık Operations
Arab, Iranian and Indian people were the first sarrafs in the world. With the development of trade between the European and Asian and African countries and the beginning of piracy in the seas, in the European countries that have a coast to the Mediterranean Sea, the sarrafs that collect and sell gold and silver from the East have emerged.
Today, sarrafs work more like jeweler. The current legal regulations have thoroughly restricted the trade areas of the sarrafs. Today, sarrafs are working on gold, silver, rubies and other precious metals. However, in order to be qualified and reliable in their activities, total quality management principles are adhered to in these enterprises.
As in many fields, our organization TÜRCERT Technical Control and Certification Inc. makes certification studies and gives Sarraf Quality Certificate. You can contact our company's managers and employees in this document and in all matters concerning ISO 9001 standards.