Executive Management
Dr. Ekrem ARIKAN
Chief Executive Officer, Board Member
Mr. Ekrem ARIKAN earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering at Boğaziçi University and his MBA at Yeditepe University. He received his PhD degree from İstanbul Ticaret University in Business Administration with his thesis “Factors Affecting Corporate Governance Maturity Level and Analysis of Digital Maturity Level: A Research on Companies Traded in Borsa Istanbul”. He speaks advance level English and German, also beginner-level Arabic.
At Microsoft, he worked as a Support Engineer starting in 1998, as a Program Specialist starting in 1999, and as a Program Manager in the Windows International Product Development Group starting in 2000. Until 2006, he was responsible for the development of Windows operating systems for the Turkish and Turkish-speaking markets.
At Ziraat Teknoloji A.Ş., which provides IT services for the Ziraat Finance Group, he served as IT Architecture Manager starting in 2007, as Project Management Office Manager starting in 2009, and as IT Security Manager starting in 2011. In 2013, he was appointed as Corporate Development Director. Starting in 2014, he worked at Ziraat Hayat ve Emeklilik A.Ş. as the IT and Corporate Development Group Manager, managing Information Technologies, Customer Services and Call Center, Human Resources, and Support Services.
From 2015, he started to work at the EPİAŞ (Energy Exchange - Enerji Piyasaları İşletme A.Ş.) as a Consultant to Chairman and then he was appointed to the Strategy Development Director role. He led the establishment of the Transparency Platform, the preparation of the company’s first five-year strategic plan, and memberships and relations with the international associations such as EUROPEX.
Since 2016, he has been working at Borsa İstanbul Group’s Takasbank as the Executive Vice President for Information Technology. He has led and actively contributed to key projects, including the BISTECH transition, the blockchain-based digital assets project BiGA, establishment and structuring of the Takasbank R&D center, takeover of check clearing system from the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, establishment of the EPİAŞ Natural Gas Market Clearing and Collateral Management services, opening of the SWAP market, and development of the TEFAS and BES mobile applications. He played a significant role in the implementation and management of various business development and infrastructure transformation projects.
Since April 2019, he has been working as the General Manager and Board Member at Merkezi Kayıt Kuruluşu (MKK), the Central Securities Depository of Türkiye. He pioneered the development of numerous new products and services such as; custody services provided to the Turkish Mercantile Exchange, establishment of the Omnibus Account structure and membership of Euroclear Bank and the Azerbaijan CSD (Milli Deposit Merkezi), founding of the Crowdfunding Platform, development of the Electronic Trade Repository, implementation of the Electronic General Meeting system in the Indonesian capital market and acquisition of the MKK GABİM company from the Turkish Association of Appraisers. Moreover, he led development and establishment of the Data Analysis Platform, Investor Information Center (e-YATIRIMCI) application, Bearer Shares Registry System, Investor Risk Monitoring System, Pusula and the GEFAS platform.
He has been the Chair of the Development of Financial Services Commission for the Twelfth Five-Year Development Plan (2024-2028) led by the Presidency of Strategy and Budget of Presidency of Republic of Türkiye. Prior to this, he was a member of the same commission during the Eleventh Five-Year Development Plan (2019-2023).
Dr. Ekrem ARIKAN, as the CEO and Board Member of MKK, has assumed the Chairmanship of the Association of Eurasian Central Securities Depositories (AECSD) starting from September 2023. Since October 2024, he is also a Board Member of Africa & Middle East Depositories Association (AMEDA). As of September 2025, he has also been elected as the Chairman of the World Forum of Central Securities Depositories (WFC).
He began his professional career at BIS Solutions where he developed financial solutions for Intermediary Institutions and Participation Banks, and in addition to providing advisory for CRM and ERP solutions until 2001.
In 2001, Mr. HAKYEMEZ started working as a Technical Project Manager at CarrefourSA, during his tenure he was the responsible Technical Project Manager for the establishment of the company's ERP system and integration with Carrefour France Projects.
He continued his career as a Lead Software Architect in Türkiye Finans Katılım Bankası and took part in the merger of Anadolu and Family Finans institutions. While working as the solutions manager he led many projects on loan applications of the company. In 2009, he was then assigned on the project establishment of the Project Management Office (PMO) and managed the Office until 2014.
He worked as the Head of Project Management in Medipol Health and Education Group in 2014.
He was in the founding team of Ziraat Katılım Bankası as the Head of Information Technologies Department in order to carry out the organization and processes of Information Technologies and the establishment of IT infrastructure in 2015.
In 2018, he joined Ziraat Technology as the Group Manager responsible for Participation Banking to establish and organize software development processes as well as to coordinate software development activities of the bank. In addition to these duties, he also managed Core Banking, Digital Banking, Business Intelligence and Project Management and IT Governance activities of the bank.
He was then assigned as the Head of Information Technologies in Ziraat Katılım Bankası in July 2019 and accomplished the migration of the Bank to open source client and central management systems with his team.
Mr. HAKYEMEZ assigned as the Executive Vice President responsible for Information Technologies at Merkezi Kayıt Kuruluşu A.Ş. on 07.10.2020.
After practising as a freelance lawyer between 2000 and 2003, he joined the Central Securities Depository of Türkiye (MKK) in 2003 as a Legal Counsel. Between 2003 and 2013, he served as Legal Counsel and Deputy Director and was appointed Director of Legal Affairs in 2013. In addition to his primary role, he also served as Acting Director of Audit and Acting Director of Risk Management for a period.
Throughout his career, he has been involved in numerous projects concerning various issues related to capital markets, including centralised custody, data storage, investor protection, the gradual liquidation of brokerage firms, public disclosure, and corporate governance. He was responsible for establishing internal and external operational processes (business rules, procedures, principles, etc.) for all services provided by MKK, primarily the dematerialized system, as well as ensuring that the operation of these services was conducted and updated in accordance with regulations.
He was part of the drafting group for secondary regulations specific to information society services (such as electronic general meetings, electronic board meetings, and corporate website obligations) under the Turkish Commercial Code and also led projects to implement these systems within MKK. Following the launch of these corporate governance services, he also took part in their operational management. Other key projects he contributed include the monitoring of bearer shares of non-listed companies at MKK, the dematerialization of warehouse receipts, and the development of rules regarding the reporting of crypto assets to MKK.
While serving as Director of Legal Services, he was appointed Executive Vice President on 7 October 2025.
He began his career in 2007 as an Assistant Specialist in the Corporate Marketing Department at Birlik (Halk) Sigorta A.Ş. In 2008, Özcan started working as an Assistant Specialist in the Personnel, Administrative and Financial Affairs Directorate at the Central Securities Depository of Türkiye (MKK), rising to the position of Chief Specialist in the relevant unit.
During this period, he took on active roles in operations related to improving MKK’s human resources processes; planning procurement management plans and budgets in conjunction with financial affairs; managing all purchases end-to-end in conjunction with finance and accounting processes; and conducting contracts, stakeholder meetings, and external audits. Acting as Director of Human Resources and Support Services in 2022, Özcan played critical roles in MKK’s human resources, procurement management, corporate publications, corporate communications, and international relations processes.
In January 2024, he was appointed Director of the Communications Office and made significant contributions to the development of MKK’s internal and external communication processes, the strengthening of international relations, and the implementation of international events.