Masallah Dag and Emir Yildirim
14 September 2026•Update: 14 September 2026
Turkish credit bureau KKB and global tech firm IBM agreed to expand their collaboration in data management, core system modernization and artificial intelligence (AI), according to a recent report from the data collection agency.
KKB plays a key role in Türkiye’s financial ecosystem by providing reliable data and tech infrastructure.
The agency is strengthening its data infrastructure and critical mainframe to develop appropriate solutions using IBM’s watsonx family of AI products as part of its generative AI strategy.
IBM’s modernization efforts for KKB’s mainframe solutions accelerated the agency’s software development processes while enhancing operational transparency, performance monitoring and database management capabilities, strengthening the security and efficiency of the agency’s financial systems on both mainframe and open systems.
The goal is to more effectively manage integration across different systems to achieve an annual capacity to support over 8.5 billion transactions.
Isil Kilinc Gurtuna, general manager of IBM Türkiye, stated that the firm’s long-standing collaboration with KKB was taken to the next level with the recent decision, as the firm is committed to supporting KKB’s implementation of innovative applications and preparation of critical operations using IBM’s AI and core system tech.
Abdullah Bilgin, deputy general manager of IT and research and development (R&D) at KKB, stated that tech investments are a key part of preparing for the future financial ecosystem, noting that maintaining and growing a high transaction volume, performance, uninterrupted service, security and scalability are of great importance to the agency.
Bilgin noted that the expanded collaboration with IBM will enhance the agency’s core systems modernization and create a more agile and effective integration structure across different platforms.
He added that AI will be a core component of the transformation in boosting operational efficiency.
