KKB was established, under banking law, to enable the exchange of all kinds of information and documents among at least five banks, and it also shares customers' credit information. In addition, the Credit Bureau of Turkey serves deposit banks, participation banks, financial institutions, insurance, private pensions, and capital markets, among other areas.
KKB has nine shareholders. These shareholders are Akbank, Denizbank, Sekerbank, Ziraat Bankasi, Garanti Bankasi, Halk Bankasi, Is Bankasi, Vakiflar Bankasi, and YapiKredi Bankasi.
Information about the products and services provided to members under KKB is given below:
LIMIT CONTROL SYSTEM (LKS)
Under the Bank Cards and Credit Cards Law, for a customer using a credit card for the first time, the total limit of cards that may be obtained from all banks must not exceed twice the customer's income in the first year, or four times their income in the second year. With the regulation dated October 8, 2013, all card-using customers were brought within the scope of this limit restriction.
Having launched work on these matters together with the TBB (The Banks Association of Turkey) Credit Cards Working Group, KKB opened the Limit Control System (LKS) to a test environment at the end of 2013, and as of January 2014 enabled members to upload data for all of their card customers into the system.
LKS is a real-time system developed by KKB based on the country's needs. In accordance with the Bank Cards and Credit Cards Law, LKS consolidates the credit card limits collected from all institutions issuing credit cards in the sector on a customer basis, enabling card-issuing institutions to manage a single limit application.
As of March 1, 2014, under LKS, sanctions are applied for:
- Transmitting incomplete records in the initial notification file or requesting additions afterward,
- Failing to make the FTP notification in accordance with the standards or on time,
- Incorrect notification of the baseline (milat) limit,
- Incorrect transmission of the current limit
These sanctions are applied for the matters above.
With the LKS Emergency Update service, members are able to make correction transactions—reduction, closure, and record correction—for limits reported under LKS without the circulation of paperwork, in order to facilitate corrections.
LKS CUSTOMER OBJECTIONS EVALUATION SYSTEM (MIDES)
LKS MIDES is a system that provides the infrastructure needed for KKB members to manage objections raised regarding erroneous or incomplete data shared via the Limit Control System.
If the information shared in LKS is believed to be incomplete or incorrect, the objection process is initiated via LKS MIDES using the reference number generated for the query in question. For objections made by members, the process proceeds through LKS MIDES screens between the objecting member and the member who will respond to the objection; if the responding member answers the objection with a value different from the LKS value, the process continues through the LKS Emergency Update screens, again via the update made by the responding member.
LKS MIDES was developed so that objections can be answered quickly and clearly, and so that all communication on this matter is carried out in accordance with certain standards; it is a system designed to shorten the objection process while also increasing customer satisfaction.
RISK REPORT
The Risk Report is a KKB product that reveals the past credit repayment performance of real persons and legal entities with regard to the credit products they have used from banks.
The Risk Report is produced by KKB using individual and commercial credit information regularly transmitted by banks and financial institutions to the Risk Center of the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB). Presented without modification based on this information, and carried beyond similar examples around the world in terms of design and content thanks to enrichment work carried out in 2014, the report includes:
- Findeks credit score,
- The person's limits, risks, past credit repayment performance, and credit card payment information,
- The number of financial institutions reporting,
- Total number of credit accounts,
- Total limit and balance information,
- Date of last credit use,
- Number of credit accounts currently in arrears,
- Total balance in arrears,
- Current longest delay period,
- Information on any credits sent to collection/enforcement proceedings, if any,
- Information on any ongoing debt transferred to asset management companies, if any,
- Leasing-factoring records information and score percentage ranges showing where the person's credit score percentile falls within Turkey overall,
- The most negative status in the payment history,
- Current longest delay period,
- Credit card: liability status, balance sent to collection, limit utilization rate, installment balance,
- Consumer loan: balance sent to collection, limit utilization rate, number of installments, installment amount information
are included in the report.
The report, which also shows the payment performance of each credit over the past 18 months, effectively summarizes payment performance across the financial sector. Because it contains not only negative information such as overdue payments or records referred to collection/enforcement proceedings, but also positive information such as credits paid on time, it provides a significant advantage for people who pay their debts on time.
Risk Reports, which KKB began sharing not only with banks but, as of September 2012, also with the report owners themselves (persons/institutions) and with third parties they approve, through bank branches, have been offered, as of 2014, electronically through the Findeks infrastructure to individuals and the real sector outside the financial sector as well.
CHECK REPORT
With Law No. 6273 Amending the Check Law, published in the Official Gazette dated February 3, 2012, No. 28193 (Repeated), which eliminated the sanction applied to those issuing bounced checks, a new era began in the economy regarding the management of receivable risk.
The existence of platforms providing the information needed for risk to be properly managed and for check holders to correctly decide whether to accept a check aims to protect both the issuer and the check holder.
In order to make checks—a widely used payment instrument—more secure, the "Check Report Presentation System," launched by KKB in April 2012, is a service offered to provide check holders, through the check reports it produces, with the past check payment information about issuers that they need in order to make a sound decision. The report, through which the issuer's past check payment information can be easily accessed, includes:
- The banks where the customer holds a check account,
- The number of checks presented since 2007,
- The number and amount of checks paid upon presentation,
- The number and amount of checks that bounced in 2009 and after and are still unpaid,
- The number and amount of checks that bounced in 2009 and after and were subsequently paid,
- The date of the first check presented,
- The date of the first check presented and endorsed as bounced,
- The date of the last check presented and endorsed as bounced,
- The date of the last check paid upon presentation,
- The number and amount of checks paid in the last 1, 3, and 12 months,
- The number and amount of checks endorsed as bounced in the last 1, 3, and 12 months,
- A list, limited to 50 items, of checks endorsed as bounced,
- The number of open checks that have not yet undergone a payment or bounce transaction,
- The number and amount of all forward-dated checks that have not yet undergone a payment or bounce transaction,
- The number of checks that have not returned to the banking system,
- The check index,
- A table of the lowest, highest, and average check amounts by year,
- Open check information in addition to collection/collateral checks,
- Information on the issuer's forward-dated and open checks, in addition to bounced and paid checks
are included in the report.
With the Check Report, the positive or negative development of the account holder's check payment performance can be tracked. This report reveals how many banks have issued checkbooks to the account holder, while also offering insight into the person's creditworthiness. When the Check Report is used at the stage of accepting a check, the probability of the check bouncing can be predicted with up to 80% accuracy.
Check reports, which can be obtained via mobile devices or over the internet, can be requested from the counterparty by real persons/legal entities engaged in commercial activity in the real sector, on any platform involving a commercial transaction. Through online report applications, real sector participants can, in order to control receivable risk, instantly obtain the debtor's check or risk report either from the debtor themselves or, with the debtor's consent, directly from KKB's query system. With its infrastructure enabling Check Reports to be requested electronically with third-party consent, KKB has achieved an application that serves as a model worldwide.
CHECK STATUS INQUIRY
Check Status Inquiry, developed to prevent check fraud, aims to allow the status of checks received to be queried online so as to determine whether the check is in circulation. Thanks to the system, which works by querying online through the bank that issued the check, information on whether the check reported by the drawee bank is in circulation can be obtained.
The purpose of the query is to determine whether the queried check has returned to the banking system and whether it has been taken by any bank for collection/collateral purposes, thereby preventing the possibility that the check in question is a copy of the original check. In order to make commercial life in Turkey more secure, it has been opened by KKB for use by the entire financial sector under the scope of "Measures Taken to Prevent Check Fraud."
Efforts to expand KKB's products continue with the work carried out and information obtained from new data services. As part of this work, the Check Status Inquiry (CDS) application has been renewed. Check Status Inquiry has been developed as a new application, independent of the existing CDS application, with its new services. Following these developments, queries regarding whether checks are in circulation can now be made via the MICR code on the check. In addition, the ability to query via a security code, prepared as a feature that further enhances QR code security, has also been provided.
CHECK INDEX
The Check Index, which summarizes the issuer's check usage habits and reliability, is a graphical, score-based market risk indicator created based on the check payment information of real persons and legal entities.
The Check Index not only makes the check payment behavior of the relevant legal entity or real person measurable, but also calculates any problems encountered, reflecting their number and amounts. By viewing the issuer's status on a simplified chart, the check holder can easily see where the issuer stands compared to other issuers.
The Check Index, calculated statistically through the analysis of the detailed data contained in the Check Report, saves resources and time by making it easier to interpret reports and make sounder decisions. Institutions that will carry out transactions against checks can, instead of trying to interpret the detailed data on check history contained in the Check Report, use the Check Index—calculated statistically through analysis of that data—in their evaluations to gain insight into the reliability of the checks they accept as collateral, make consistent predictions about whether a check will be paid on time, and minimize the financial loss they might incur if the check bounces.
INDIVIDUAL CREDIT SCORE (BKN)
The Individual Credit Score (BKN) is a numerical indicator, calculated by KKB for individuals, used to predict the extent to which a credit obtained or to be obtained from a member institution will be repaid, compared to another consumer. BKN, a decision-support product produced using a statistical model, is characterized as a summary of the customer's credit payment information obtained through KRS (the Credit Reference System).
BKN allows credit institutions' risk decisions to be rational and standardized, while also considerably shortening the decision process. This, in turn, enables customers to access credit products in a shorter time. Most recently, the sixth version of BKN was released for use in 2021.
INDIVIDUAL DEBT INDEX (BBE)
The Individual Debt Index (BBE) is a score-based risk index developed by KKB to bring a new risk perception to the banking and finance sector and to help better predict possible risks. Its focus has been determined as identifying people who show no signs of payment difficulty recently or in the past, yet have a tendency toward excessive borrowing. In this context, BBE aims to:
- Create an early-warning system by identifying individuals who take out new loans to close existing debts without delay—and who therefore show no past payment difficulty—but who are becoming increasingly indebted,
- Ensure responsible lending,
- Enable users to make more accurate decisions on matters such as setting credit limits and risk-based pricing,
- Increase the quality of banks' credit decision systems
These are the goals targeted.
Accordingly, BBE is designed to predict individuals who will not yet become unable to make payments within one year of the query date, but who will nevertheless become "excessively indebted."
In addition to the "problem loan" definition that risk prediction models try to forecast (those who fail to make payments for three consecutive periods, those sent to legal collection/enforcement proceedings, and those written off as losses), it introduces the detection of "excessive indebtedness." In this context, it was developed solely for people with an unsecured debt balance exceeding 400 TL, and for the purpose of predicting excessive indebtedness. The second version of BBE was released for use in 2022.
COMMERCIAL CREDIT SCORE (TKN)
The Commercial Credit Score (TKN) refers to a rating score regarding a company's creditworthiness that will ease commercial credit evaluation processes. TKN is reported to member banks and other financial institutions within the KRM (Risk Center) query, in which companies' credit record information is reported.
TKN is produced, based on demographic information, credit and collateral information, and check payment performance, to predict the extent to which companies will meet the credit repayment obligations they have to the member institution. The higher the TKN—which measures the probability that the company will be classified as a loan sent to collection/enforcement proceedings within 12 months of the query date—the lower the company's probability of being classified as a loan sent to collection/enforcement proceedings within 12 months.
Financial institutions take many variables into account in the lending process. The credit repayment history of legal entities is an important variable at this point. TKN fills an important gap by providing the information needed to evaluate the behavioral (credit repayment) performance of legal entities. This makes it possible to easily monitor the external behavior of credit customers.
TKN, calculated statistically through the analysis of the detailed data contained in the Risk Report, provides:
- More accurate evaluation of the risk decisions made by credit institutions,
- The establishment of a standard in commercial life as well,
- Shortened decision-making processes, allowing customers to access credit products in a shorter time
These benefits are provided.
KKB offers member institutions the "Commercial Credit Score" model, which emerged from modeling work carried out on the data held within the "Corporate Bureau System."
COLLECTION SCORES
"Collection Scores," one of the high-value-added products created by KKB to support the data-sharing service it provides to members with analytical scoring models, calculates the risk that a customer who is late on a credit payment will fall into further delay or default in the near term. With Collection Scores—risk scorecards developed specifically for each customer who falls into arrears—members can manage their collection processes more effectively by developing a collection strategy specific to customers in arrears. Through risk segmentation carried out according to the relevant delay period, taking all KRS data into account, members can plan their actions to increase collection efficiency and prevent customer dissatisfaction, in addition to operational gains.
PROPENSITY SCORES
KKB Propensity Scores are used to predict individuals' future tendency to use a new credit product, based on their past behavior and their performance with their current credit products. This is intended to help members effectively manage their risks by reaching customers who genuinely need credit and whose creditworthiness is suitable.
With KKB Propensity Scores, members are provided with the opportunity for:
- Fast access to the right customers with the right strategies,
- Viewing broad-scope data through a single score, with less operational burden,
- Time savings, since target groups can be easily identified on a product basis,
- More efficient and effective management in product utilization
These opportunities are provided.
By modeling the credit and credit application information of the individual portfolio held in the data warehouse using statistical methods and calculations, KKB began calculating propensity scores for individual loans in 2015, and plans to calculate propensity scores for all individual products going forward.
GEOMIS – MAP-BASED REPORTING SERVICE
GeoMIS, winner of the "Oracle 2014 Innovator Excellence Award," is a location-based data reporting service based on processing the addresses contained in KKB's data, converting them into geographic coordinates, and plotting them on a map, allowing all kinds of statistical data to be displayed on the map, colored according to specific categories, at the province and district level.
GeoMIS does not consist solely of a database, digital map, and reporting; it contains many different components. It is a service that can be effectively used as a decision-support system by visualizing well-known database operations such as querying and statistical analysis and combining them with the geographic analyses provided by maps, making report outputs far more valuable and yielding outputs that improve efficiency and risk models.
Through the GeoMIS – Map-Based Reporting Service, institutions can obtain: the Standard Report, which contains an institution's portfolio information for a given period; the Trend Report, which allows changes in an institution's portfolio data over a given period range to be examined; and the Benchmark Report, which evaluates an institution's portfolio information against the sector, TUIK (Turkish Statistical Institute), and the comparison group it determines.
The GeoMIS service is provided by KKB via a map-based reporting platform on Oracle database and application servers. Data is positioned on the map with the help of a process called "Geo-Coding" (address resolution).
The system identifies the institution to which the user accessing the application belongs based on the IP address used, and bases all displays on that institution.
GEOMIS INDIVIDUAL
The GeoMIS application, covering queries made by KRS users since the second half of 2009, began to be offered to KRS member institutions as of July 2013.
With its data set enriched by individual credit portfolio information added in 2014, the GeoMIS application continues to provide service as GeoMIS Individual.
GEOMIS CORPORATE & CHECK
GeoMIS Corporate & Check is a product in the GeoMIS family that, as of August 2014, added to its data set KKB data specially prepared for small/medium/large enterprises and the commercial segment, and enables this data to be reported in detail on a province and district basis.
The GeoMIS Corporate & Check application, which enables the evaluation of limit, risk, TKN, and bounced check information for accounts held in KRM, and the display of this information on a map at the province or even district level, makes it possible for member institutions to compare their own data, the changes and developments in that data, and that data against sector data or competitors' data.
The reports available make it possible to access information on balance, number of accounts, average score, credit risk per bank branch, and number of credit-holding companies per bank branch.
As with other GeoMIS applications, whose content is continuously enriched, the GeoMIS Corporate & Check application is also being continuously developed. In the year it was introduced, GeoMIS also added check information reported to KKB to its data set.
GEOMIS MEMZUC
With GeoMIS Memzuc, the newest member of the GeoMIS product family, the credit limit/risk and receivables-to-be-liquidated information reported by banks and financial institutions is plotted on a map using the branch's province and district address information.
In GeoMIS Memzuc, the following can be viewed:
- With Count Reports: number of records, number of branches, number of customers, and number of customers per branch,
- With Risk Reports: risk amounts in TL, risk amounts excluding rediscount and accrued interest, risk amount per customer, risk amount per branch,
- With Limit Reports: limits again in TL, and limit utilization rates,
- With Ratio Reports: overdue receivable ratios and the delinquent credit ratio.
CREDIT ANALYSIS PORTAL (KAP)
The Credit Analysis Portal (KAP) is an interactive reporting environment that enables the reporting of portfolio information and payment performance for all kinds of installment loans, overdraft accounts, and credit card products held by real persons, and allows comparison against the "comparison group" and "sector" overall, as determined in the GeoMIS Individual application. The main advantages KAP offers users are as follows:
- It shows the change in an institution's credit portfolio on a monthly basis and over a time series.
- It provides reporting information that will help in making important strategic decisions in light of information obtained regarding risk management and credit policies, marketing and campaign management, and collection practices.
- It offers easy use over the internet with content specially designed for the institution.
With the different parameters and filtering options used on the reporting screens, approximately 175 million different report contents can be produced from 2.5 billion rows of data, and thanks to its skillfully designed infrastructure, all these reports can be produced very quickly.
With the Credit Portfolio Analysis application, open to KKB member institutions that are KRS users, reporting can be carried out under three main headings:
- Analysis of newly opened accounts,
- Analysis of the existing portfolio,
- Risk analysis
Reporting can be carried out under these three main headings.
In the Credit Portfolio Analysis Service, reports are prepared using data obtained from the monthly notifications made by KRS members. In the system, which contains a total of 13 months of historical data, the results produced alongside the report products are visualized with charts.
With the application:
- The current state of an institution's credit portfolio data and its development over a time series can be tracked,
- An institution's count, volume, delinquency, and collection figures across different portfolios can be compared with competing institutions,
- All of this data can be used in forming and testing the institution's risk management policies.
The reporting service offered through KAP has been prepared as a separate portal for consumer finance companies. Companies are given the opportunity to obtain the data in KAP on a product basis and under the desired heading. In this way, consumer finance companies can, in addition to the analysis of newly opened accounts, analysis of the existing portfolio, and risk analysis reports they can access, also prepare and use reports for three main products: vehicle loans, housing loans, and personal needs loans.
CHECK ANALYSIS PORTAL
The Check Analysis Portal is an interactive reporting environment that enables KKB members to compare their check figures against a "comparison group" and "sector overall" that they determine themselves.
Thanks to the reports of the Check Analysis Portal, prepared using data obtained from daily check notifications, institutions can:
- Compare the number of first-time check customers against competing institutions.
- Obtain information about the ratio and trends of customers in their customer portfolio who issue bounced checks.
- Track, through vintage analysis, the monthly rate at which endorsed bounced checks are subsequently paid.
- Measure how committed check customers are to their payments, using the rate of bounced checks upon presentation.
- Obtain information about how many bounced checks were paid, using current bounced-check rates.
- Compare the ratio of customers issuing a check for the first time and customers issuing a bounced check for the first time against the sector overall and against peer (comparison) group rates determined by the institution itself.
- Access the check index distribution of check customers.
ADDRESS PROCESSING SERVICE
The address formatting infrastructure used in GeoMIS, the map-based reporting system launched in 2013, began to be offered as an independent service in 2014, in line with members' needs.
It is an application that geocodes the bank's customer address information, updates changed street, district, etc. information with the new data, adds geocode information to address data, and includes controls to ensure newly added addresses are correctly defined in the system.
Under the Address Processing Service:
- Through the processing of bulk customer addresses, existing customer address information at the bank is formatted, changed street, district, etc. information is updated and completed, and geographic coordinates are added to the address data (geocoding).
- By sharing the up-to-date address database with members, in order to ensure that new address entries are made correctly, the Turkey address database is uploaded to the member system and integrated into address entry screens. For completed addresses, a coordinate-assignment service is also provided via KKB. In addition, a reverse-geocoding service—obtaining the current address from coordinates, for use in cases such as a change of district—is also offered.
- Thanks to the mapping service, through a function operating via KKB, any member-specific data can be displayed on the map as desired.
AGRICULTURAL CREDIT EVALUATION SYSTEM (TARDES)
KKB launched the Agricultural Credit Evaluation System (TARDES), which includes data sharing and a ready-made system infrastructure for banks and financial institutions wishing to lend to the agricultural sector, in 2013.
With TARDES, an important infrastructure and information service is offered that allows all banks that are KKB members and that make KRS & KRM notifications and queries to carry out evaluations based on accurate and up-to-date data, without needing expert teams, and to conduct agricultural credit evaluation in a systematic manner.
The advantages TARDES offers KKB members are listed as follows:
- It provides reliable, up-to-date, and detailed cost schedules created by experts in the field.
- It offers the ability to evaluate different crops and/or livestock operations belonging to the same producer at the same time.
- It makes it possible to lend to producers, on a product basis, with terms suited to different agricultural production types.
- Producers can have their agricultural production evaluated together with their non-agricultural income and expenses.
- The personal, production, and income-expense information of other persons and institutions who may affect credit repayment can also be included in the evaluation within a single application.
- A general limit recommendation can be made taking into account all of the producer's agricultural and non-agricultural, commercial and individual activities, and their repayment capacity.
- It prevents producers from being given more credit than they need or can afford to repay.
- Short-, medium-, and long-term loans can be evaluated together.
- It requires minimum IT and personnel cost for lending institutions.
- Automatic data entry can be made from the Farmer Registry System.
- It offers an institution-specific flexible lending infrastructure where models and parameters can be entered in line with credit policies.
- Users can be notified by e-mail when the maturity of a product with a recommended limit is approaching.
- It saves time by blocking application entry for products that are not to be financed.
- With the individual credit category, credit requests of producers that fall outside their agricultural needs can also be evaluated.
With this evaluation system, developed in cooperation with the Frankfurt School and KKB, performing cost, income, and maturity calculations has become far easier.
In light of information collected and evaluated by a professional, impartial, and expert team, TARDES saves financial institutions time and labor while helping them achieve a standardized, product-appropriate valuation structure within the institution. In this way, the system makes a substantial contribution to the development of the agricultural sector.
In Fast Company's 2021 evaluation, KKB was named among Turkey's 50 most innovative companies for its TARDES service.
FARMER REGISTRY SYSTEM (CKS)
The Farmer Registry System (CKS) is a registration system that requires farmer information to be collected in a central database, in order to ensure that agricultural support can be tracked, audited, reported, and queried, and that accurate and sound evaluations can be made.
It is a system of systems in which the personal information of farmers actively engaged in agricultural activity, the assets they use during their activities (land, livestock, inputs, etc.), their production pattern, and average yields are recorded, and through which agricultural support is applied, monitored, and audited, and which is used in forming agricultural policy.
CKS Inquiry Screens are screens, created by the General Directorate of Agricultural Reform and used to update, audit, and monitor farmers' information, that also allow CKS data to be queried by KKB members who do not use the TARDES credit module.
COMMERCIAL REGISTRY SHARING SYSTEM (TSP)
The Commercial Registry Sharing System (TSP) is a service that enables banks to digitally track, regarding their customers, up-to-date changes in commercial registry information published in the Trade Registry Gazette.
With TSP, changes published in the Trade Registry Gazette can be accessed daily, through a single query made via the application, as well as through bulk queries and proactive notification methods.
With bulk queries, commercial registry information can be obtained in bulk for a specified number of customers. In this method, data can be obtained for all types of announcements, or it is also possible to select only announcements in a specific category.
With proactive notification, each member is notified daily regarding their Corporate Bureau customers and newly established companies, for the preferred announcement types, with the relevant alert file deposited at an FTP address.
Institutions benefiting from the proactive notification service are also given the opportunity to determine the daily notifications to be made, based on criteria they enter into the system themselves.
VERIFICATION SERVICES
For a more reliable financial environment, the Verification Services offered by KKB are a set of services created with the goal of easing the operational and cost burden on institutions and organizations in the financial world, creating a reliable environment and saving time for members. Verification Services include the IBAN Verification Service and the TCKN & GSM Verification Service.
IBAN VERIFICATION SERVICE
Within the intense pace of the financial world, having money transfers carried out through financial institutions performed quickly, reliably, and without error is becoming increasingly important for customers. The IBAN Verification Service, with the query and confirmation options it offers, aims to minimize the adverse outcomes that may occur in money transfers.
With the KKB IBAN Query feature, the first/last name of the real person, or the title information of the legal entity, that is the owner of the IBAN number for which a transaction is desired is displayed in masked form, thereby helping prevent potential erroneous money transfers.
The KKB IBAN Confirmation feature, on the other hand, is a verification service for transactions in which the IBAN number and the IBAN holder's TCKN (national ID number)/VKN (tax ID number) are known but identity confirmation cannot be performed. As a result of the query made via KKB, the user can obtain information on whether the match between the IBAN number and the TCKN/VKN is correct.
With the KKB IBAN Verification Service, the following are targeted:
- Preventing potential erroneous transfer transactions,
- Reducing operational cost,
- Reducing time cost,
- Creating a reliable transaction environment for customers,
- Increasing customer satisfaction
These are the goals targeted.
TCKN & GSM VERIFICATION
The TCKN & GSM Verification Service is a service aimed at digitally confirming customers in transactions carried out by banks.
While financial services is one of the activity areas where digitalization is most prominent, this service aims to contribute to the sector's transformation. Within the scope of the service, thanks to services prepared for the secure conduct of financial transactions, it is possible to confirm whether the phone number shared by the customer is registered in the banking sector. A check is carried out on whether the TCKN associated with the given phone number has previously been registered at any bank, and whether they match.
Banks can join the system through web service integration and can integrate the application into their own systems.
ELECTRONIC LETTER OF GUARANTEE
The Electronic Letter of Guarantee is a platform that moves the traditional letters of guarantee issued by banks into an electronic environment, enabling all transactions that can be carried out throughout the letter's life cycle to be performed electronically.
All transactions that can be carried out for a paper letter of guarantee can also be carried out in the Electronic Letter of Guarantee.
Following the completion of integration work between the banks and counterparty institutions that are parties to the project, which was moved into the production environment on January 5, 2018, the first Electronic Letter of Guarantee was transferred between Vakifbank and Eximbank on October 4. All banks continue their efforts to complete their integration processes for this important project, which represents a revolution in the Turkish banking sector.
Real sector companies that are beneficiaries of an Electronic Letter of Guarantee can track the fate of the letter via Findeks. They can also monitor which stage the letter is at and which stage the processes between the counterparty and the bank are at.
In addition, the Electronic Letter of Guarantee offers many advantages for both the beneficiary and the counterparty. Chief among these advantages is that transactions are carried out faster, more securely, and with operational costs minimized.
All functions involved in the life cycle of a standard letter of guarantee—such as claim requests, return/release requests, maturity updates, end of term, and status inquiries—are also available in the Electronic Letter of Guarantee.
LETTER OF GUARANTEE STATUS INQUIRY (TMDS)
The Letter of Guarantee Status Inquiry Service (TMDS) is a system that allows counterparties holding letters of guarantee issued by banks to check, using the "bank name," "branch name," "letter of guarantee serial number," "amount," "currency," and "maturity" information, whether the letters of guarantee they hold are still valid at the relevant bank.
Institutions benefiting from the TMDS service reduce their operational costs by saving time, through the ability to instantly query the validity of a letter of guarantee without corresponding with the issuing bank.
Thanks to the system, which allows the validity of the letter of guarantee given to the counterparty to be queried instantly, the aim has also been to prevent fraud attempts.
Designed especially for public institutions and organizations that accept large numbers of letters of guarantee, the TMDS service can also be used by KKB member institutions and organizations, via web screens specially prepared for this application. Within the scope of the service, the ability to query online is offered, based on current letter-of-guarantee data held within the systems of the banks with which integration has been achieved.
All letters of guarantee whose counterparty is domestic are included in the scope of the query. In the application, which operates "online/real-time," the data flow with the banks from which letter-of-guarantee data is obtained is provided through web service integration.
CENTRAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS (MKDS)
KKB, which has served as a data-sharing platform since its founding, now, with the Central Decision Support System (MKDS) it began offering to members in 2014, makes it possible for all decision automation to be carried out through KKB using cloud technology.
MKDS is characterized as decision automation systems used so that institutions can deliver, in an effective, fast, and standardized manner, all kinds of decisions related to the services they offer their customers—such as application management, risk/collection, credit monitoring, early-warning services, and more. Despite the advantages they provide, the most significant disadvantage of these systems is that purchasing, setting up, and operating them is extremely costly for institutions.
By providing this service centrally, KKB aims to give institutions access to these systems quickly and at as low a cost as possible.
Data that members send to KKB at the point a decision is needed is enriched by KKB and processed through the Decision Support System, and the final decisions produced are transmitted to the member. In this way, members can benefit from these systems, developed with the latest technology, with low setup costs and short implementation times. MKDS is also used effectively outside the financial sector, by the real sector. MKDS, which can be used in many areas—from application management, which requires decisions to be continuously updated and optimized to adapt to a constantly changing business environment through successful strategy management, to customer management, from limit management to collection management—offers the following main advantages:
- Since the technical infrastructure is provided by KKB, it requires minimum IT resources.
- Thanks to the advantage of benefiting from a ready-made service, it shortens integration processes for bringing projects to life.
- It lowers costs through per-transaction pricing.
- With the next-generation Strategy Design Studio software, it enables the business unit to make decisions independently of IT.
- MKDS, which uses all of KKB's accumulated knowledge and technology, brings together and consolidates the KKB data used in decision-making processes.
- Querying all reports is carried out within KKB thanks to this system.
DORMANT ACCOUNTS
This is a service in which dormant deposits, participation funds, custody funds, and receivables are collected from banks that are members of TBB and the Participation Banks Association of Turkey (TKBB), consolidated, and published on a platform (website) accessible to customers.
Dormant Accounts are published at the beginning of February each year and can be queried by all financial service customers until June.
FALSE INFORMATION/DOCUMENT/DECLARATION/APPLICATION ALARM SYSTEM (SABAS)
The False Information/Document/Declaration/Application Alarm System (SABAS), which has served the financial sector for 10 years, is a system that enables information about identified malicious attempts, and the related risk element, to be shared among members within a certain discipline, and allows necessary measures to be taken.
Thanks to the information-sharing technique and platform developed by KKB that sets SABAS apart from similar systems worldwide, facts, findings, and evidence related to crimes such as fraud, deception, identity theft, and money laundering can be shared seamlessly among members.
SABAS is structured around the following five core objectives:
- To protect consumers from risk and victimization by preventing citizens' information, documents, goods, and property from being used by others (identity thieves, money launderers, fraudsters, deceivers, etc.),
- To protect KKB members from risks by informing them of risks that may arise or have arisen in connection with attempts that are the subject of SABAS, or to enable them to close out any victimization they experience with minimal loss,
- To enable KKB members to exchange information among themselves within a framework of standards and rules free of "personal comment, opinion, and judgment,"
- To protect KKB members against legal victimization, which carries the possibility of far more devastating consequences than the losses that attempts covered by SABAS may cause,
- To provide KKB members, through SABAS, with the ability to minimize risks, and to protect both real and legal customers from being victimized due to such attempts.
INTERNET FRAUD ALARM SYSTEM (IFAS)
It has become an increasingly common type of crime in recent times for fraudsters who obtain bank customers' internet branch user codes, passwords, PINs, and similar information to log into customers' accounts and transfer the money in those accounts, often to accounts opened using fake documents. Although banks use highly advanced security systems to prevent such attempts, malicious individuals continue to develop new methods that bypass these systems.
The Internet Fraud Alarm System (IFAS), developed by KKB, primarily aims to establish communication among member institutions regarding fraud carried out over the internet. In this context, requests to block an account in the case of money transfers carried out for fraudulent purposes are transmitted via IFAS. In this way, communication among institutions is made more effective, and all kinds of information related to transactions can be stored in a data-processing environment.
Taking into account that the money movements that occur can take on quite complex forms, and in order to make it easier to examine events, the system also offers an automatic chart-drawing feature. With this option, a flow chart of money movements can be obtained for every fraud that occurs.
Another important feature of IFAS is that it can work as an integrated whole with the SABAS application. In internet fraud, deposit accounts are usually opened using fake information in order to ultimately withdraw the money taken from customers' accounts. Information about these accounts is shared within SABAS, making it accessible to all relevant units of member institutions. In this way, the reuse of information that was used for fraudulent purposes and detected by IFAS is definitively prevented.
APPLICATION FRAUD ATTEMPT DETECTION AND PREVENTION SERVICE
The aim is to create a national database using the credit application information fed in by member institutions, offering sector-wide protection.
The Fraud Attempt Detection and Prevention Service provides a far more secure operating environment compared to controlling fraud cases on an institution-by-institution basis. This project aims to minimize application fraud losses for institutions in the financial sector.
Since the service will operate on a cloud basis via KKB, joining the system is expected to be easy and low-cost for an institution. As license costs will be shared among all institutions, the service—which offers institutions a significant advantage—is designed to process not only common rules and data, but also institutions' own specific rules and data.
The system, which will initially become active for credit institutions, is intended to later expand with the participation of different sectors as well, and to be turned into a national information-sharing platform.
INSTANT CREDIT UTILIZATION SHARING SERVICE (KAPS)
The Instant Credit Utilization Sharing Service (KAPS) is a service offered to prevent a person from using credit beyond their creditworthiness from banks and financial institutions on the same day, and to detect related fraud cases.
The service allows the institution to know, at the moment a credit is disbursed, whether the customer has had a different disbursement within the last 48 hours. In addition to helping prevent a person from taking out credit beyond their repayment capacity, it also makes it possible to prevent a type of fraud that is widely used in the market.
BDDK PRODUCT AND SERVICE FEES PORTAL
Through the BDDK Product and Service Portal, information regarding all kinds of fees, commissions, and costs that banks will charge—other than interest and profit share—in relation to individual products or services is presented to financial consumers in a clear, understandable, and comparable manner.
Within the scope of this effort, all fees that banks charge individual consumers are entered into the system in the same format, and if there is any change to these amounts, the data can be updated simultaneously. In this way, even when different fees are charged, the relevant banking product and service fees can be observed and compared in a single format.
NOVA
KKB NOVA is a platform that enables data collected from scattered channels at different times to be systematically gathered according to defined rules, grouped, and analyzed and interpreted in order to achieve the targeted results.
It was developed by KKB for the purpose of establishing a dynamic data-collection platform and gathering, monitoring, processing, and analyzing the relevant data from a single platform.
Due to the following issues present in existing data-collection systems, the goal has been to collect data dynamically through a single system:
- Duplicate data
- Data validation
- Integration gaps
- Lost data
- Dependence on specific individuals
- Dependence on IT
- High costs
- Manual processes
AGRICULTURAL SCORE
Agriculture in Turkey is of great importance in terms of meeting food needs, supplying inputs to the industrial sector, exports, and the employment opportunities it creates. Since financial risk management is critical for such an important sector, an analytical model specific to the agricultural sector, using nationwide sector data for the first time in Turkey, has been developed to predict the extent to which people operating in the agricultural sector will repay the credit they have taken or will take. The Agricultural Credit Score measures the risk that real persons operating in the agricultural sector will fail to repay their agricultural credit within 12 months. It was developed using statistical methods for use by the financial sector.
With the use of the Agricultural Score, the following benefits are provided:
- Enabling member financial institutions to make more objective and faster decisions in the lending process,
- Enabling financial institutions to more effectively manage the risk of their credit portfolio in the agricultural sector,
- Enabling correct pricing for producers based on the risk level predicted as a result of the analytical model.
CHECK SCORE
Checks with a high leverage ratio carry critical risk for the economy. "KKB Check Score," developed by KKB—which supports its members with analytical products in managing risk in the best possible way—using sector data and statistical predictive modeling methods, measures the risk that an issuer will fail to pay at least one of their checks on time within 9 months.
The model, developed by analyzing payment performance on other credits in addition to all check data, was opened for use by all financial institutions that are members of the Risk Center (RM) in 2019.
With the use of the Check Score, KKB member financial service providers are provided with the following benefits:
- The ability to make more objective and faster decisions in the lending process,
- Effective management of the check credit risk of customers who do business using checks,
- Improving the quality of checks held in the collateral pool.
COMMERCIAL DEBT INDEX (TBE)
Companies heading toward payment difficulty show certain delays before defaulting. The Commercial Debt Index (TBE) model predicts companies that do not yet have an obvious delay, but that have a high tendency toward indebtedness and a high probability of failing in the future. Unlike most risk models, which look at the number of days of delay, it brings a different risk perspective by taking into account indebtedness that exceeds repayment capacity.
TBE, which uses machine learning algorithms, predicts—through models developed for sole proprietorships and legal entities that look at customers' past KRM information both instantaneously and as a trend—the tendency of a customer to fall into a high level of indebtedness that could later lead to default.
WEB SCORE
The Web Score model automatically collects and analyzes publicly available internet data, and uses this detailed information about SMEs to predict the probability of default with a risk model. This model can be used to speed up bank teams' decision-making process and to automate the manual evaluation of credit allocation. Developed using machine learning algorithms, the Web Score model can be used as a powerful analytical predictive model to support credit decisions when limited external intelligence about a company is available, when there is no credit history at all, or in the case of a weak credit history, thereby providing more companies with access to credit. Even when sufficient information about a company is available, the Web Score model can be used to improve the performance of credit risk models.
KKB's up-to-date list of products and services is below: