Modernizing digital banking with APIs

Karnataka Bank modernizes integration to accelerate digital services

A closeup image of a hand inserting a debit card into an automated teller machine (ATM)
Modernizing Digital Banking for Future-Ready Agility

Karnataka Bank needed to modernize its digital banking infrastructure to accelerate the rollout of services such as digital payments, loan processing, and third-party integrations while maintaining secure connections across multiple internal and external systems. The bank aimed to move away from legacy integration platforms and adopt a future-ready architecture that could support advanced AI use cases and evolving regulatory requirements.

To achieve this, Karnataka Bank partnered with IBM to implement IBM® Cloud Pak® for Integration on Red Hat® OpenShift®, creating a secure, scalable, and agile API platform that reduces total cost of ownership and strengthens its digital foundation.
50% increase in scalability 30% reduction in operational cost
With IBM Cloud Pak for Integration on Red Hat OpenShift, we now have an agile and secure platform that allows us to scale operations across India, simplify system management, and reduce costs—all while improving the overall customer experience.
Venkat Krishnan Chief Information Officer Karnataka Bank Limited
Building a Secure, API-Led Foundation for Innovation

Karnataka Bank collaborated with IBM to migrate from legacy integration technology to IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, a container-native platform unifing best-in-class solutions for APIs, events, messaging, and applications under a single control plane. This modernization moved the bank away from VMware-based infrastructure to containerized microservices on Red Hat OpenShift for greater agility.

The solution leverages IBM App Connect Enterprise as the central engine for integration and orchestration. Working with IBM MQ and IBM API Connect®, it creates a unified platform where API Connect manages external calls and routes them to App Connect. Using an API-led architecture, App Connect automates complex data transformations and orchestration required before routing to downstream systems. This enables seamless core banking interactions, digital payments, and supports regulatory services such as GST, CBDT, UIDAI, and CERSAI.
Today’s banking sector is more complex than ever, comprising many systems and data sources in constant use. To stay ahead, banks require intelligent automation that not only streamlines operations but also anticipates issues before they arise. Karnataka Bank’s modernization showcases how intelligent automation and integrated systems can reduce complexity, boost efficiency and accelerate the delivery of secure, reliable digital services at scale.
Viswanath Ramaswamy Vice President, Technology IBM India & South Asia
Scaling digital banking with a secure API platform

Post-transformation, Karnataka Bank runs a secure, container-based API platform on Red Hat OpenShift with IBM Cloud Pak for Integration. Digital gateways manage API traffic and enable faster rollout of digital payments, loan processing and third-party integrations while maintaining secure internal and external connectivity. The bank strengthened security, boosted scalability by 50% and reduced operational costs by 30%, lowering total cost of ownership. The platform supports seamless communication across internal, external and cloud systems and smooth integration with UIDAI, CERSAI, GST, Reg-Tech and CBDT services, helping the bank adapt faster to evolving market and regulatory requirements.
About Karnataka Bank

Founded in 1924 and headquartered in Mangaluru, Karnataka Bank (KBL) is a leading Indian private sector bank serving over 13 million retail, MSME, and corporate customers. Operating across 22 states and 2 Union Territories, the bank provides a diverse range of banking and financial services, from personal and business banking to digital products and NRI services.

 Solution components IBM® App Connect IBM API Connect® IBM MQ IBM Cloud Pak® for Integration Red Hat® OpenShift®
Accelerating integration with AI-powered automation

IBM App Connect Enterprise is an AI-powered integration platform that unifies apps, APIs and data across hybrid environments. It provides no-code, low-code and pro-code capabilities that enable business users and integration specialists to design, deploy and manage integrations with speed and control.

By supporting API-led, event-driven and messaging patterns, IBM App Connect Enterprise helps organizations accelerate automation, modernize legacy systems and securely connect applications across on-premises, cloud and containerized deployments. It is also available as part of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, alongside IBM MQ and IBM API Connect, enabling organizations to integrate applications, data and APIs across hybrid environments.

  1. Learn more
  2. View more case studies
Legal

© Copyright IBM Corporation March, 2026.

IBM, the IBM logo, IBM App Connect, IBM API Connect, IBM Cloud Pak and IBM MQ are trademarks of IBM Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide.

Red Hat and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

Examples presented as illustrative only. Actual results will vary based on client configurations and conditions and, therefore, generally expected results cannot be provided.