Transforming API Governance for Future-Ready Banking

BUSINESS CHALLENGE

Türkiye İş Bankası sought to strengthen its API governance capabilities as a strategic enabler of its broader digital transformation journey. To support this vision, the following key areas were identified:

• Transitioning from siloed to centralized API inventory management to enhance visibility and governance.
• Improving the speed and consistency of API security assessments and related decisions.
• Establishing a unified integration framework to standardize API design and implementation practices across teams.
• Optimizing API lifecycle management to speed up service delivery
• Increasing ecosystem-wide visibility to proactively manage complexity and reduce technical debt over time.

HOW WE HELPED

DefineX led a comprehensive API governance and management transformation project, establishing a standardized API management model aligned with banking industry best practices. Key initiatives included:

• Designed a centralized API inventory solution cataloging 140+ APIs across 40+ products with 25+ critical attributes to provide full enterprise-wide visibility
• Developed API integration decision trees with 7 structured paths covering 4 API types and 3 security levels, establishing consistent and informed integration platform choices.
• Established an automated security classification framework with 4 security control sets to guide authentication methods and access controls based on data sensitivity and API exposure level.
• Developed a holistic API governance model with clearly defined lifecycle processes using BPMN, including organizational design and role definitions.

RESULTS ACHIEVED

By adopting a modern, standardized API-governance framework, the bank is expected to strengthen API-management capabilities, improve security posture and optimize integration processes.

Strategic asset reuse and rapid API discovery are expected through full ecosystem visibility—capturing 25+ critical metadata attributes in a centralized inventory.

Up to 70 % faster security assessments projected via risk-based frameworks, enabling consistent protection of sensitive data across all API types.

Faster time-to-market anticipated for new digital services through a streamlined API lifecycle.