Dr. Günsel Topbaş, Founding Partner and Fintech Practice Leader of Manifest Executive Consultancy, headquartered in Dubai, and a member of the Digital Assets Committee at the MENA Fintech Association, evaluated the contributions of Istanbul Fintech Week to the fintech ecosystem in Türkiye and the region for our readers.
Regarding Istanbul Fintech Week, how do you assess its contribution to the fintech ecosystem in Türkiye and the region? What opportunities do you think such events create for the sector?
Istanbul Fintech Week is a key platform that brings Türkiye’s fintech vision to the global stage. This platform brings together technological innovations, regulations, investments, green finance, digital assets, and entrepreneurship. Türkiye’s fintech sector, particularly in payment systems, is highly developed. Our banking sector is an integral part of this ecosystem, creating a scalability advantage unmatched in many other countries. With advanced regulations, a young, digitally literate population, robust technology infrastructure, and openness to innovation, Turkey is among the leading countries in the fintech world. Such events allow the fintech sector and its stakeholders to come together on an international scale, shaping new collaborations, strategic investments, and regional visions.
In light of the rapid changes and developments in the fintech sector in recent years, what innovations and strategies do you prioritize in your own work? In which areas of the sector do you anticipate significant breakthroughs in the coming period?
I come from a traditional finance background. I served as a General Manager at Citibank Türkiye and as Regional Head of Securities Services in Dubai, responsible for 14 countries. I currently play an active role in the Gulf and Turkish fintech ecosystems. Traditional finance prioritizes reputation, compliance, and profitability; fintech prioritizes innovation, challenge, and scalability. A strong balance sheet and institutional presence, combined with agility and adaptability, complement each other. Through Manifest Executive Consultancy, which I founded, I guide traditional Gulf financial institutions on digital transformation while also providing strategic consulting to fintech companies with a vision and high value propositions seeking to expand from Türkiye to the Gulf. We develop roadmaps for these companies, which primarily operate in digital assets, tokenization, and artificial intelligence, in Dubai, the Gulf region’s fintech hub, on licensing, regulatory compliance, and market entry. I am also a member of the Fintech and Innovation Committee of the Arab Federation of Capital Markets (AFCM) and the Digital Assets Committee of the MENA Fintech Association. I teach a course on tokenization of alternative investments at the American University of Sharjah. In these roles, I actively contribute to regional policy development. In the coming period, tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), the effective use of stablecoins in digital asset swaps, artificial intelligence solutions, and sustainable finance products will be at the center of sectoral transformation. At Manifest, we are delighted to be a part of this transformation and to work to ensure Türkiye becomes an active player in the region.
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵, 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘺.
