{"id":2,"date":"2023-08-29T11:08:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T11:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2025-11-13T21:00:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:00:54","slug":"sample-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mehmetates.org\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MEHMET ZAHIT ATES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He began his career in 2004 as a software developer at AYESAS – Aydin Yazilim ve Elektronik Sanayii<\/a>. Following that, he worked at SDT – Space & Defence Technologies<\/a> as a software developer and later returned to AYESAS<\/a> in 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 2006, he moved to the Central Bank of the Republic of T\u00fcrkiye (the Bank)<\/a> and worked as an IT auditor. During this term, he performed audits and consulted on various projects, such as developing Turkey’s first in-house EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer – real-time transfer and real-time gross settlement system) and ESTS (Electronic Securities Transfer System – real-time transfer and gross settlement of securities)<\/a>. He has also served as a speaker and trainer at local and international events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, he was chosen as the high-potential leader candidate within the Bank and completed a leadership program organized by Harvard Business Review Turkey<\/a>. That same year, he was appointed deputy CIO in 2018, and he became the CIO in 2019. Until 2023, he led an extraordinary team to launch Turkey’s new generation, in-house 24\/7 instant payment system (FAST – the Instant and Continuous Transfer of Funds), the “High-Frequency Data<\/em>” project, which collects almost real-time data from financial institutions and provides it to decision-makers. He spearheaded the transformation of IT architecture for flexible operation across multiple sites, the establishment of the Bank’s new disaster recovery center, and the development of a brand new in-house EFT system that can integrate with other country’s payment systems, and coordinated IT preparations for the relocation to Umraniye location of the Bank and Istanbul Finance Center (IFC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He served as a board member and Chairman of the Internal Audit and Risk Committee – BKM<\/a> between 2020 and 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between September 2023 and August 2024, he worked as CIO at the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the Republic of T\u00fcrkiye<\/a>, leading an incredible team to successfully implement Investment Guaranteed Advance Credit, Green Transformation and Digital Transformation software projects on time, and spearheaded the planning and development of a disaster recovery site.

Since August 2024, he has been working as the General Manager (CIO) at the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkiye<\/a>. He is responsible for leading a 370-person team and guiding the Bank\u2019s technology functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He led the Bank\u2019s architectural transformation\u2014similar to Amazon\u2019s \u201cAPI Mandate\u201d approach\u2014by migrating from a monolithic structure to a new, service-based and open-source architecture. This transformation liberated data, enabled the rapid delivery of new digital services, and significantly enhanced efficiency, and technological autonomy, while establishing a strong foundation for innovations such as the time-independent, isolated EFT platform launched in 2023 and future cross-border payment capabilities. He guided the realization of the Bank\u2019s first artificial intelligence projects. He also shares his knowledge and experience on payment systems and innovation at national and international events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mehmet Zahit Ates, who graduated from Meram High School of Science<\/a> (Konya, T\u00fcrkiye) in 2000, holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering<\/a> from Bilkent University<\/a> (Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye), master’s degrees in Software Engineering from Middle East Technical University<\/a> (Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye), Information Law from Hacettepe University<\/a>,(Ankara, T\u00fcrkiye) and an MBA concentrated in Finance from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School<\/a> (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the United States of America) . He has also completed the Executive Education program \u201cCompeting in the Age of AI<\/em>\u201d at Harvard Business School<\/a>. Mehmet Zahit Ates is also a resident of the Turkish House owned by the Aziz and Gwen Sancar Foundation<\/a> (Aziz Sancar was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry<\/em>) between 2014 and 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MEHMET ZAHIT ATES He began his career in 2004 as a software developer at AYESAS – Aydin Yazilim ve Elektronik Sanayii. Following that, he worked at SDT – Space & Defence Technologies as a software developer and later returned to AYESAS in 2005. In 2006, he moved to the Central Bank of the Republic of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mehmetates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mehmetates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mehmetates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mehmetates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mehmetates.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.mehmetates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2732,"href":"https:\/\/www.mehmetates.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/2732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mehmetates.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}