Istanbul Fintech Week 2026, organized with contributions from BEX Digital Wallet, will host Nobel laureate economist Prof. Dr. Daron Acemoğlu on its main stage on October 6. The event will bring together the ideas, technologies and decision-makers shaping the future of finance in Istanbul.
Istanbul Fintech Week, Türkiye’s first and largest global financial technology event, will be held at Hilton Istanbul Maslak on October 5-7, 2026. Under the theme “Smart, Embedded and Tokenized,” the event will bring together bankers, fintech executives, investors and regulators from Türkiye, the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. The three-day program will address the transformation spanning AI, payments, digital banking, sustainable finance and digital assets, together with the figures shaping that transformation.
Who is technology working for?
Winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics and an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Daron Acemoğlu brings a distinct perspective to this discussion through his work on the economic and social consequences of technological progress. In Power and Progress, co-authored with Simon Johnson, he argues that technology does not spread prosperity on its own — rather, choices about the direction of technology determine who wins and who loses.
Will AI replace humans, or will it enhance what humans can do? The framework Acemoğlu has developed on automation, employment and income distribution also points to a fundamental question for the financial sector as it integrates AI into its business models: who will the transformation create value for?
Acemoğlu, who will deliver the closing keynote of the AI in Finance Summit on October 6, will be available to all attendees holding an Istanbul Fintech Week ticket. That same evening, Acemoğlu will join senior industry executives in a closed session at the IFW Leadership Forum. Separate from the general event ticket, the Forum will be open only to senior executives whose applications have been approved.
Central banks and regulators on the same platform
At the invitation of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, the event will also be attended by senior representatives from central banks abroad, bringing the development of financial technologies together with the regulatory agenda while creating space for cross-border dialogue and cooperation.
Istanbul Fintech Week Co-Founder Demet Zübeyiroğlu commented on this year’s focus for the event: “The future of finance will be shaped not just by new technologies, but by the decisions we make about those technologies today. How AI will be used and who the transformation will create value for are now shared agenda items for the sector. That’s why we’re bringing together Prof. Daron Acemoğlu, central bank representatives, regulators and industry leaders on the same platform. At Istanbul Fintech Week, we won’t just be discussing where technology is headed — we’ll be discussing what kind of financial future we want to build with these technologies.”
The transformation of finance, across five summits
The program — consisting of the Sustainable Finance, Payments, AI in Finance, Digital Banking and Digital Assets summits — will feature closed-door roundtable discussions alongside the main stage sessions.
The Payments Summit will open with a session led by Interbank Card Center (BKM) General Manager Ozan Deniz. Garanti BBVA Payment Systems General Manager Kerem Orbay will take part in a conversation addressing the embedding of payments into commerce. Cross-border payment infrastructure will be discussed in a panel featuring Ripple’s Middle East and Africa General Manager Reece Merrick. Remitly CEO Sebastian J. Gunningham is also among the event’s speakers.
How AI is transforming risk management and cybersecurity at financial institutions will be addressed in a keynote by Cognitive Finance Group CEO Clara Durodié. Bridge API CEO Anna Maj, who will deliver the opening keynote of the Digital Banking Summit, will focus on banking’s shift toward modular architectures.
Is AI a reinvention for banking, or a fundamental disruption? This question will be addressed on October 7 in the “The Intelligent Bank: Reinvention or Disruption?” panel at the Digital Banking Summit, featuring Akbank Deputy General Manager for Digital Solutions and Strategy Şebnem Dağ Güven. The growth potential of digital banking will also be among the program’s discussion topics. A panel featuring Hüseyin Demirhisar, who oversees global operations at Bunq, one of Europe’s largest digital banks, will assess whether branchless banking has achieved scale. Having brought together more than 17,000 attendees from over 60 countries since 2019, Istanbul Fintech Week has hosted more than 630 speakers to date. This year, the event will once again bring the international dialogue of the financial world to Istanbul.
Support from leading institutions in the financial ecosystem
Istanbul Fintech Week 2026, organized with contributions from BEX Digital Wallet, has BKM Express as its title sponsor. Garanti BBVA is a Black Sponsor; Akbank LAB, TROY and Türkiye İş Bankası are Diamond Sponsors; and Ripple and Priority Pass support the event as C-Suite Sponsors. The Association of Payment and Electronic Money Institutions (TÖDEB) is taking part as a strategic partner, while Invest in Türkiye, under the Presidential Investment Office, is also among the event’s supporters.
For the program, speakers and attendance information: istanbulfintechweek.com
