ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The Turkish central bank said on Saturday that Borsa Istanbul CEO Murat Cetinkaya and Oguzhan Ozbas have been appointed as deputy governors at the central bank.
Three sources had told Reuters on Aug. 22 that Turkey was considering appointing Cetinkaya as central bank deputy governor.
Cetinkaya has the same first and last name as the former governor, who was sacked last month by President Tayyip Erdogan for not following instructions on monetary policy.
The governor was replaced by his deputy, Murat Uysal, creating a vacancy which has now been filled by the latest appointments.
Born in 1970, Cetinkaya started off his professional life in Ziraat Bank, Turkey’s largest lender by assets, before taking up positions in Tekstilbank, Halk Yatirim, Halk Portfoy, Borsa Istanbul and Turkey’s clearance institution Takasbank.
Ozbas started his professional career at the Ford Motor Company, working in its treasury department until 1998. He completed a PhD in financial economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) between 1998 and 2002.
He joined the University of Southern California in 2002 as assistant professor. As well as lecturing, he conducted research on corporate finance, real investment and resource allocation.
Last month the Central Bank slashed its key policy rate by a bigger-than-expected 425 basis points to 19.75% in its first monetary policy meeting since Uysal took over.
(Reporting by Nevzat Devranoglu; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
