Top Management

INTERBANK CARD CENTER

GENERAL MANAGER

Ozan DENIZ – General Manager

Ozan Deniz graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Computer Engineering 2005. He received his Master’s in Computer Engineering from Middle East Technical University and MBA from the University of Texas. In 2018, he completed the Harvard Business Review Executive Leadership Program.

Ozan Deniz started his career at the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye in 2006 and held managerial positions in Information Technologies, Business Development, Payment Systems and Financial Technologies departments.

During his tenure as Deputy General Manager at the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, he played an essential role in steering FAST, which is positioned as the base infrastructure of our country’s retail payment ecosystem, by coordinating the whole project from beginning to end.

He led the in-house development of EFT, FAST, Proxy Addressing, QR Code, Request to Pay, and Security Overlay Services with domestic and national resources to promote the payment systems and financial technologies of Türkiye.

Ozan Deniz is currently the General Manager of the Interbank Card Centre of Türkiye.

DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGERS

Cem YILDIZ, Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer

Cem Yıldız received his bachelor’s degree in Econometrics from Marmara University in 2006 and his master’s degree in Management Information Systems from Istanbul University in 2010.

He started his career as a Business and Systems Analyst at HSBC in 2005. There he managed payment product integration and existing product customization projects. Afterwards, he worked as NFC Based Payment Systems, Mobile Initiative Manager in companies such as Banksoft and Visa Europe and as Group Manager in Ziraat Technology Alternative Distribution department.

In 2018, he joined Mastercard as responsible for Turkey and Azerbaijan markets. Here, he created product vision and strategy, led product management, strengthened the business model, and collaborated with internal and external partners to understand customer needs in MDES, Acceptance, Contactless, Mass Transit, Tap on Phone and other new development areas. He also collaborated with the global marketing team to create product and sales materials and closely monitored industry players.

Yıldız’s management-level training and sectoral know-how contribute significantly to the development of innovative products and strategies, especially in payment systems.

Cem Yıldız is a Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer at the Interbank Card Center.

Osman Okyar TAHAOĞLU, Deputy General Manager Product & Technology Management at TROY

Osman Okyar Tahaoğlu graduated from Dokuz Eylül University with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical-Electronics Engineering in 1998. In 2001, he earned a master’s degree in Computer Software from Izmir Institute of Technology. He obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Dokuz Eylül University in 2009. Additionally, he holds an MBA from Istanbul Bilgi University and completed the Strategic Management program at Harvard University.

Tahaoğlu began his career as a software specialist at Türkiye İş Bankası in 1999 and has since been involved in numerous payment systems and internet banking projects. Tahaoğlu has experience as an information security manager at Turkcell Global Bilgi and as a business development expert at Turkcell. He contributed to the implementation of innovative services such as mobile signature and mobile payment.

In 2011, Tahaoğlu served as a head of product management at Interbank Card Center. He played a key role in the development and management of Türkiye’s first national digital wallet, BKM Express, from concept to implementation. Under Tahaoğlu’s leadership, BKM Express became a respected and award-winning success story in the industry. He also led teams responsible for internet payments, public payments, card on file, and TR QR Code products.

Tahaoğlu’s extensive management-level training and industry knowledge have made significant contributions to the development of innovative products and strategies in payment systems. He is a member of the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Association.

Osman Okyar Tahaoğlu currently serves as Deputy General Manager of TROY Product and Technology Management at the Interbank Card Center.

Cengiz DEĞİRMENCİ, Deputy General Member Relations & Marketing at TROY

Cengiz Değirmenci graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Industrial Engineering in 2005. While continuing his education, he worked on a voluntary basis as Project Coordinator under the umbrella of the International Competition Research Institute in various projects, in which the World Bank also involved, for different sectors in order to develop Türkiye’s development models.

Cengiz Değirmenci began his professional career as a Marketing Executive at Türk Ekonomi Bankası and contributed to the bank’s retail banking transformation by carrying out studies to improve the individual credit card customer portfolio. Continuing his career as a Strategy and Business Development Analyst at Turkcell Superonline, Değirmenci worked on the development of strategies and business models for new technological investment areas.

Değirmenci, who started working as a Project Manager at Turkish Airlines in 2009, has undertaken the leadership of many projects related to the airline’s growth strategy. Değirmenci, who led the first domestic airline mobile application, continued his career as Online Sales and Marketing Manager at Turkish Airlines and managed the digital transformation process of Turkish Airlines by developing the digital airline road map. In this period, he restructured the online sales and marketing organization, pioneered the development of the payment infrastructure and made significant contributions to user experience satisfaction which led to sales increase.

During his tenure as Vice President of Online Sales, he established the Turkish Airlines Holidays program along with the management of online sales channels (turkishairlines.com website and mobile application) and played a leading role in developing global relations with online travel agencies. He also carried out revenue-increasing activities through car rental, e-visa, hotel, insurance and transfer collaborations.

Throughout his business life of more than 20 years, Cengiz Değirmenci has gained experience in different areas such as strategy, marketing, business development, digital transformation, project management and e-commerce in various industries such as airline, banking, telecom, automotive and fast moving consumer goods.

Cengiz Değirmenci works as the Deputy General Manager of TROY Member Relations & Marketing at the Interbank Card Center.

Sait Zekeriya ÖZGEL, Deputy General Manager Support Services

Sait Zekeriya Özgel earned a degree in Business Administration from Istanbul University in 2003. He started his career at a consulting firm in the same year, where he specialized in finance, administrative affairs, and procurement. In 2005, Özgel joined Türkiye Finans, where he served as a manager at Corporate Banking and Branch Manager. He later became the Central Branch Manager at Vakıf Katılım.

In 2021, Özgel assumed significant responsibilities as Director of Payment and Transfer Services at Takasbank, leveraging his extensive leadership experience. Özgel successfully led various projects at Takasbank, including the membership process in FAST, integration of Real Estate Exchange and Vehicle Exchange systems with e-Government, transformation of the Gold Transfer System into the Precious Metals Transfer System with the ‘Silver’ option, and integration processes of the Mint into the BİGA Blockchain-based digital asset transfer system. He has successfully managed and implemented important projects, including Customer and Behavior Segmentation, ‘Mirror’ Targeting and Performance Management, and Customer Experience Improvement Project, leaving a significant impact on the finance sector.

Sait Zekeriya Özgel currently serves as Deputy General Manager of Support Services at Interbank Card Center.

Serkan EREN, Deputy General Manager Payment Platforms

Serkan Eren graduated from Ege University with a degree in Computer Engineering in 2002. He obtained an MBA degree from Maltepe University.

In 2004, he started working as a Software Specialist at Takasbank, where he gained experience in managing databases and application servers. He has played a significant role in various financial applications, compliance and transformation projects, policy and claims applications, and CRM projects at institutions such as Takasbank, Ergo Sigorta, Softtech, and Zebra Teknoloji. Furthermore, he successfully implemented a web-based platform for the electronic trading of fixed-income securities.

In 2018, Serkan Eren led the architectural design and development of several FAST layer services at Interbank Card Center, including BKM Geçit, Open Banking, BKM Payment Systems Simulators, Easy Addressing, and Request To Pay. As the head of the architectural committee, he played a crucial role in establishing corporate architectures and adopting new technologies within the organization. Eren led teams in developing solutions for scalable distributed architectures and real-time high-volume transactional applications. He has extensive experience in agile methodologies and is recognized for his leadership and achievements in technological projects.

Serkan Eren effectively leads the company’s technological strategies, drawing on his education in computer engineering and business management, as well as his comprehensive industry experience.

Currently, he serves as the Deputy General Manager of Payment Platforms at Interbank Card Center.

Fatih AYDEMİR, Deputy General Manager Information Technologies

Fatih Aydemir earned a degree in Computer Engineering from Kocaeli University in 2007.

He worked as a Software Engineer at several software companies before transitioning to the finance industry with Softtech in 2010.

In 2012, at the Interbank Card Center, Fatih Aydemir played an active role in developing various applications within the Payment Platforms, including the Domestic Clearing and Settlement System. He provided architectural leadership and served as a solution architect for FAST layer services, such as Easy Addressing, Request To Pay, Security Layer Services, and Merchant Registration System. With his expertise in financial technologies, Aydemir continued his career at Papara in 2023. He led the issuing and acquiring teams and significantly contributed to the transition of external service procurements to in-house implementations at Papara.

Throughout his career, Aydemir’s extensive experience and leadership qualities have made him a significant figure in the finance sector and payment systems technologies.

Fatih Aydemir is currently the Deputy General Manager of Information Technologies at Interbank Card Center.