The Challenge

Turkey is the world’s 19th largest economy, with a sizable young and tech-savvy population and well developed banking and electronic payments markets. Bankalararası Kart Merkezi (BKM) – the Turkish  national switch – is at the heart of powering the future of cashless payments and adding value through seamless and secure payment solutions in Turkey.  

Dr. Soner Canko, then CEO of BKM eloquently summarized the main drivers to build a national payment scheme in Turkey: “The need for alternative solutions, which will meet locally requirements, is growing. Given their global reach and size, global schemes respond to local needs in varying speeds. There are many local alternative payment methods around the world that successfully serve their home market. When we evaluated these examples and the requirements of Turkish banks, we concluded that a local solution will bring independence and economies required to innovate in the fast moving, competitive payments market of our country. The time has come to start a new era with the deep know how and technology of the sector.”

BKM chose EDC as a strategic partner in developing and implementing the domestic scheme ‘Troy’, acronym inspired from “Türkiye’nin Ödeme Yöntemi” (“Turkey’s Payment Method”), by building on top of existing technical and regulatory infrastructure in the market.

How EDC helped

EDC was the principal consultant on the project during the strategic planning and implementation phases.  

EDC worked closely with BKM on developing the financial business case for all prospective scheme members and a gap analysis to identify scheme technology and regulatory requirements (scheme and governmental) as well as the project implementation plan to cover all implementation work streams. EDC also helped BKM run an RFP process to select providers of technical (EMV specifications) and scheme regulatory (Operating Regulations).  

BKM and EDC collaboratively directed the launch of the card scheme from pilot to full commercial launch. EDC also assisted BKM with quarterly strategic reviews and with writing and publishing white-papers and other reports.

Troy currently offers a wide range of payment solutions including magnetic strip cards, chip cards, and contactless cards, all compatible with EMVCo standards as well as other innovative alternative forms of payments such as mobile, wearables, and QR payments. As of 2018 year-end, approximately two years after the launch of ‘Troy’, Turkey was Europe’s largest card payment market with more than 213 million cards in circulation (2.6 cards per capita).