Transformation of Finance

Finance industry has been changing since 2008 faster than we have ever seen before. Crisis, new technologies and the digitalization are the main drivers. In the scope of this presentation, we will discuss the world of FinTech through technologies which we are familiar in computer science. We will look at new things like cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, blockchain as well as, mobile payments. Then after payment related trends, we will discover alternative finance, crowdfunding, ICOs, new forms of lending. After discussing the developments at regulatory side, we will finalize the presentation by observing case studies. At the end of this session, we will have an understanding about the major technologies that are driving FinTech transformation, an understanding of how we, as Computer Scientists/Engineers, are changing Finance globally.

Cagdas Ocalan

Cagdas Ocalan graduated from Bilkent University, Department of Computer Engineering in 2006. In the same year, the senior project team received "Best Senior Project" award for the project, "Information Retrieval on Turkish Texts". The project was also published as poster in 2006 SIGIR conference . Cagdas continued his education in the same department by focusing on Information Retrieval, and received MSc degree after finalizing TUBITAK project on "New Event Detection and Tracking". In 2008, he started to work as a consultant and software developer in METU Computer Engineering Software Research and Development Center. During this time, he took part in the preparation of UBL e-invoice schemes for Revenue Administration. In 2010, he settled in Istanbul, and continue his career as software engineer in Turkiye Is Bankasi. Since 2012 he has been working in Citibank Turkey. Within 8 years, he covered many roles, such as Project Manager, Payment and Receivables Product Manager, Commercial Cards Product Manager, Channels Product Manager, and sometimes multiple of them. Currently, Cagdas is working as Vice President responsible for Citibank Turkey Digital Channels & Data Product Group.