Our Intellectual
Capital

We act with the slogan “Digital makes it easier” and constantly reinforce our leading role in the sector by constantly improving our technological power and capabilities. With the innovative transformations we carry out in financial services, we continue to increase the value we offer to our customers day by day. As a bank shaping its sector, we develop our own banking software entirely with our own resources and deepen our expertise in this field with each passing day.

With our qualified human resources and innovative vision, we closely follow developments in the field of information technologies and add value to our customers with products and services that make a difference in the sector. Our commitment to technologies that shape the future of banking makes us stronger at every step. By leveraging advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data, we undertake projects focused on operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

We are adapting our banking practices to the requirements of the era. We are transforming our core banking applications into modern web-based structures, prioritizing user experience. With this transformation, we respond to our customers’ needs faster and more effectively and maximize customer satisfaction by offering all the advantages of digital banking.

We recognize the strategic importance of data. We do not regard data merely as a resource, but we analyze it effectively and turn it into valuable information. With the importance we attach to data analytics, security, and management, we ensure the correct, secure, and efficient use of data. This way, we strengthen our banking services by making smarter, faster, and more reliable decisions at every step.

We carry over our studies on data analytics and investments in competent human resources in this field. We protect our qualified human capital and take steps to improve their competencies. We are making improvements that reduce process and tool complexity, increasing agility and productivity.

In order to improve competition-oriented technology adoption, we are increasing competencies and practices related to technologies supporting mobile contactless, self-service products, business intelligence, data analytics, artificial intelligence, open banking, cloud, dev-ops, smart automation, and blockchain-based digital currencies. We support and accelerate initiatives that improve the customer experience, reduce and/or facilitate customer effort, and support passwordless and biometric transactions.

We have turned digitalization into a transformation philosophy within ourselves, with works in the scope of improving our bank’s operational processes. In 2024, we continued to monitor operational processes, centralize transactions, introduce manual control points into the system, and integrate the latest technologies into our processes to increase the quality of service our customers receive from our Bank, make the sales-oriented structure more operational, save transaction and labor costs, and ease the operational burden on our units and branches. We closely follow technological developments and utilize big data, artificial intelligence, data analytics, open banking, and robotic process automation in our business processes. In addition to expanding the uninterrupted service we provide to our customers through our work, we also strengthen our competitive power in the sector by increasing our operational efficiency. Additionally, we will integrate our virtual assistant application into our Bank’s Bilio Support application in the coming period to provide fast and reliable answers to the questions posed by our branches 24/7 using RPA and AI technologies in line with the requirements of the digital transformation era in order to reduce telephone traffic. With the C-Bot application, we enabled our branches to receive information on the subject as well as priority requests for their transactions at the operation center through this application and receive an instant response.

We continued our activities with pilot business units to start including business units in the agile transformation. We ensured that agile processes in application development teams are implemented end-to-end on the new Azure platform, that business units follow up work on the same platform with Information Technologies units, that approval steps such as analysis and user acceptance tests are carried out on Azure, and that the status of ongoing works is monitored in real time. We started periodic meetings at the senior management level to manage the production process more efficiently. With the DevOps transformation, we ensured that the production environment deployments of the codes developed by the application development units were carried out end-to-end automatically in a fast and high-quality manner. We continued our agile transformation journey with agile coaches who joined us in 2024. We increased the number of agile coaches to 16 in this period.

We expanded the use of robotic process automation (RPA) to increase productivity. By using robots in around 200 business processes in more than 50 business units, we carried out the work performed manually by an average of 100 people every month with robotic automation. We prepared and launched the reporting tool (Qlik) and data infrastructure required for business units to create ‘self-service’ reports from their own data. Qlik is actively used by 145 business units. A total of 11,780 reports have been developed and deployed on the Qlik platform to date.

We also developed models and decision trees of business units with data analytics and modeling tools used within the bank, enabling insights to be obtained from data and minimizing IT dependency.

For sharing the outputs we have achieved as a result of our R&D activities with the outside world, our two papers below were accepted to the “4^th International Artificial Intelligence And Data Science Congress (ICADA)” conference held on March 14-15, 2024.

• Implementing Predictive Models for Cash Flow Forecasting in Bank Branches: An Applied Study
• Data-Driven Approaches to Optimize Branch and Team-Based Targeting in Banking

In 2024, we made two applications for patent incentives and one application for publication incentives within the scope of the R&D Center Reward and Incentive System Regulation.

As part of the ‘Science for Stronger Societies (SCIENCE&FUTURE)’ project supported by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) program, which is part of Horizon Europe (2021-2027), the European Union’s main funding program for research and innovation, we participated in the ‘European Researchers’ Night’ events held simultaneously at Kocaeli University, Sakarya University, and Düzce University on 27 September 2024. We provided information about the activities carried out in our R&D Center.

At the “Paragon 102: VakıfBank” event organized by Istinye University Industrial Engineers Club on November 12, 2024; we informed the participants about innovative projects in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in the banking sector and the challenges and opportunities in the field of banking from the industrial engineering perspective. We carried out studies with Sakarya University Faculty of Computer and Information Sciences to work together on our project solutions and make joint publications.

On the V-Lab Innovation Platform, which aims to spread the innovation culture throughout the organization and provide maximum benefit in the bank-employee-customer triangle with innovative ideas, we continued the main programs of ‘Innovative Products & Services / Innovative Use of Technology’ and ‘Efficiency, Improvement & User Experience’ in 2 different periods. In addition, more than 500 ideas created by the Bank’s employees were evaluated by the Bank’s Innovation Ambassadors and relevant business units.

We organized the Hackathon competition, which we have made traditional, as a completely physical event for the first time after the pandemic on December 13-15, 2024. 225 teams applied, 50 teams were invited to the interview process and the best 14 teams were hosted in the IFM building. We were with the teams with our EBIS mentors for 48 hours. On December 15, the final presentations were evaluated by our senior executives and other juries according to team competence, originality, innovative technology, business model, design, commercialization/scaling, presentability, social benefit, and prototype criteria. We presented our awards in the categories of ‘Best Minimum Viable Product’, ‘Best Social Enterprise’, ‘Most Innovative Technological Solution’, ‘Best User Experience Design’, and ‘Best Global Solution’. This event strengthened our image as the best place to work and gave us the chance to evaluate our team members in terms of potential new colleagues. We also had the opportunity to identify potential areas of work and to support teams who want to take their ideas further, as this provides a platform for the development of new ideas that can be evaluated.

We organized ‘CIO & Technology Executive Agenda for 2024 - Franchising Digital Delivery’ with Gartner and the ‘AI Awareness’ MeetUp events with our R&D and Innovation Department.

Throughout 2024, we provided mentorship training and practice to our employees who will take part in the organization related to the Hackathon Mentorship Training and Workshop. We organized a training and workshop on ‘Scenarios for the Use of Artificial Intelligence and Productive Artificial Intelligence in HR’ with the Human Resources Department. We conducted workshops with the Corporate Development Department on the areas in which thematic calls can be issued on the Innovation Portal.

We have also participated in workshops organized outside the Bank, such as the Artificial Intelligence Integration Workshop on Chatbot, GitHub Copilot Workshop, Artificial Intelligence Workshop led by BRSA, Productive Artificial Intelligence Workshop with IBM, Developer Productivity Workshop with Oobeya, and Artificial Intelligence Workshop with Datamarket.

Intending to become the leading bank of a strong Türkiye, we continuously offer our customer-oriented and innovative products and services to our customers. While making the most of the opportunities offered by digital banking, we recognize the risks that this transformation entails. We aim to develop strong defense mechanisms against cyber-attacks, ensure the security of all kinds of data, and take strong security measures to protect personal data. The steps we take to secure data not only enhance the reliability of our services, but also improve customer satisfaction and the quality of the digital experience. In the coming period, we will continue to offer a more secure banking experience by prioritizing technology, security, and customer orientation.

When determining our security strategies, three key factors come to the forefront. The first and foremost is our bank’s strategies, followed by identifying risk areas and threats, and finally, the regulations.

We are endeavoring to effectively tackle with threats, considering factors such as regulations, digitalization, and increasing data volume. We leverage regulations as opportunities to create security strategies that are aligned with our bank’s strategies and support our business practices.

As for regulations, we closely follow the regulations published by the regulatory authorities and perform the necessary compliance studies. We have completed our efforts for compliance with the Regulation on Banks’ Information Systems and Electronic Banking Services as well as with the Information and Communication Security Guide published by the Digital Transformation Office of the Presidency.

We have made the necessary plans for compliance with the Circular on the Criteria to be Provided for Identity Verification and Transaction Security in Electronic Banking Services and Establishing Contractual Relationships in the Electronic Environment, published by BRSA, and we carry over to work within the relevant plan.

We have successfully carried out audits such as Swift Customer Security Framework, and GIB (Turkish Revenue Administration) Custom Integrator Audit. Also, we have completed the follow-up audits concerning the ISO 27001 Information Security Management System and ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management System to ensure the continuity of relevant certifications.

By obtaining ISO 27701 certification, we have demonstrated the compliance of our personal data management systems with international standards and the importance we attach to our customers, business partners, and stakeholders in terms of data privacy.

Regarding the Law on the Protection of Personal Data, we ensure that the necessary information is presented in all our channels as part of the disclosure obligation and that the required explicit consent is obtained. We also provide our customers with a transparent reporting environment in this regard. Each and every one of our customers can see their agreements on the PDPL upon request by contacting our branches directly. We regularly and periodically destroy the data of customers who have no longer ongoing affiliation with our Bank. In this regard, we conduct the necessary work in all our channels within this scope to ensure our customers’ safety. We also provide informative training to our employees in line with the Personal Data Protection Law. We have implemented proactive measures through data discovery, data classification, secure file sharing, and data leakage prevention programs to ensure data security.

Our modus operandi, our valuable assets and the industries we operate in are among the main factors shaping threats and risks. We consider the financial sector as a whole, not just banks, but also the suppliers and infrastructure contractors who provide services to banks.

We sustain significant endeavors to manage business continuity risks. We have completed the required investments against increasing data processing volume, heavy traffic, and DDOS threats. We act in collaboration with operators in this regard. In the context of disaster management, during this period, we also increased the mobile branch capacity and completed the work on backing up our branches.

Especially considering the geopolitical position of our country, we are the target of cyber attackers. Although significant endeavors have been carried out within the scope of the European Union harmonization laws, we acknowledge that this has reached the level of a cyber terrorism risk and approach it holistically. Inter-country cyber intelligence sharing is crucial in this regard. In line with this, we have made significant investments in cyber threat intelligence. Furthermore, we have concluded the necessary efforts to block malicious traffic coming from abroad.

We carry out additional endeavors to protect the brand value, which is one of the most important threats to the financial sector. Especially with data leakage issues, customer awareness has begun to affect the image and brand value more than ever. We act with the awareness that even the smallest mistake can have significant financial consequences, distinguishing us from other sectors.

Another important issue that draws attention when considering risky areas is mobile banking. With the emergence of legislation supporting remote customer acquisition, we are witnessing a daily increase in number of customers. This also leads to a variety of fraud incidents. We are making great efforts to increase awareness of our customers. Due to the increasing frauds in this period, we evaluated artificial intelligence-based corporate fraud solutions and introduced them to our Bank.

One of our key focus areas in the past period has been the use of artificial intelligence. Especially with the deployment of the ChatGPT application for the use of end-users, we have started to observe instances where it is misused in harmful ways. As VakıfBank, we have also taken the necessary measures for these issues.

Along with this, the increasing amount of data processing and sustainability has led to an incredible development in cloud technologies. In this regard, many security manufacturers have started to move their solutions to the cloud. Particularly when security software is taken into consideration, we formulate strategies in line with sustainability, scalability and operational costs as far as regulations allow.

In the upcoming period, it is likely that cyber risks shall carry over to be present in our lives at the highest level, especially with environmental and climate risks. We know that we can overcome all these risks by tackling them with a comprehensive approach. As in every field, our human resources are our biggest advantage in this regard. We also recognize that when it comes to managing cyber risks, human resources are at the center of the people, process and technology axis.

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