PAL, January 2019

This study was conducted between June and October 2018 by Policy Analytics Lab (PAL) with the support of iyzico. Analysis of iyzico’s own transaction data is carried out within the scope of the study and iyzico’s contribution to e-commerce ecosystem is evaluated together with analyses of financial technologies (fintech) sectoral data. Additionally, in-depth interviews with 17 iyzico customers and face-to-face meetings with iyzico managers and employees were conducted between August and October 2018.

The aim of this report, which comprises a case study, is to contribute to the enrichment of the knowledge of decision makers of economic policy including BRSA (Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency) around fintech sector. Thereby, the subject matter of this report is the analysis of the economic and social impact of one of the pioneers of the Turkish fintech ecosystem, iyzico. This transformative impact is evaluated under three main headings of (i) impact on growth, (ii) impact on the development of secure and formal market and (iii) impact on inclusion.

Founded as a national financial technology business in October 2012, iyzico was licensed by BRSA on 30 June 2016 and grew rapidly in a short span of time. Now, iyzico is a business with a team of 130 that provides payments systems to over 15,000 merchants which sell on e-commerce sites and to over 300 thousand sub-sellers.

iyzico enables not only corporate companies but also individual sellers who do not own a business entity and allows all to sell and receive payments with debit and credit cards of all banks. Primary reasons for iyzico’s positive impact are, easy integration, quick support, secure and protected shopping, along with its start-up business model which assists start-ups to grow quicker by reducing their work and financial load.