Team

Mr. Bakkal graduated from Bogazici University in Turkey. Mr. Bakkal has a long experience in the banking sector. His experience began in 2008, as Corporate Marketing Manager at Aktif Bank. From 2013 to 2014, he was appointed to the position of Corporate Banking Manager, and from 2014 to 2015 he was appointed to the position of Manager of the Main Branch of Aktif Bank. From 2015 to 2018, Mr. Bakkal was appointed to the position of Corporate Marketing Director. From 2017 until 2018, he was appointed member of the Board of Inovaban – Financial and Innovation Consulting A.S. In 2018, he was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer and Board Member at BKT Kosovo JSC. Currently, Mr. Bakkal is the Chairman of the Board of Directors in Aktif Asset Management in Turkey.

Mr. Seyhan Pencablıgil, who holds a M.A. in General Management from Bosphorus University, Turkey (1998); a M.Sc. in Finance from Lancaster University, UK (1996); and a B.A. in Business Administration from Bosphorus University, Turkey (1991), is a senior banker, with many years of managerial experience. He has done doctoral studies in philosophy at Sofia University in Bulgaria. Mr. Pencablıgil has worked in different positions in Kentbank, such as Vice President for Deposits – Treasury and Senior Vice President – International Banking. Since October 2000, he has been the Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of BKT. Mr. Pencablıgil is the Honorary Chairman of the National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce; Chairman of the Albania Leasing Sh.a.; and Chairman of the Albanian and Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is also an alternate Member of the Board of Directors of the World Savings Banks’ Institute (WSBI). He has held other positions like Chairman of the Albanian Association of Banks and Board Member of the Albanian Investment Development Agency. Mr. Pencablıgil was selected the CEO of the Year in Europe in 2012 by the EMEA Magazine. Recently, he has been awarded with the title of “Doctor Honoris Causa” by Aleksandër Moisiu University.

Mr. Mulaku graduated in Financial Business at the University of Prishtina. Mr. Mulaku has a long experience in the banking sector. From 2002 until 2003 he worked as a Trainer and Translator in the OSCE. In 2003, he began his career as a Credit Officer at ProCredit Bank, then in 2005 he was appointed as the Sub-Branch Coordinator at the same bank. From 2007 to 2009 he was appointed to the position of the Regional Corporate Manager. From 2009 to 2010, Mr. Mulaku joined ProCredit Holding in Germany as Credit Risk Specialist and was responsible for ProCredit in Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia. Mr. Mulaku joined BKT Kosovo SH.A. in 2010, as Head of Corporate and SME, and in 2013 he was appointed to the position of Corporate and Business Banking Group Head at BKT Kosovo SH.A. In addition to the duties and responsibilities as Corporate and Business Banking Group Head, from 01.03.2022, Mr. Mulaku has been appointed as First Deputy Chief Executive Officer of BKT Kosova SH.A.

Mr. Skeja graduated in Bachelor and master’s degree in Finance and Accounting, continuing his doctoral degree in the same direction. Currently he is a PhD candidate at the State University of Tetova. He started his career as Head of the Office for Quality and Internal Control at the University of Prizren, being involved in the academic processes, as well. From 2012, he joined BKT Kosovo in the Internal Audit Department as Assistant Auditor, then continued as an Authorized Assistant Auditor. As of 2015, he was appointed as Assistant Manager at the Accounting and Financial Control Department. In 2016, he was appointed to the position of Acting Head of Department, while in the same year until 2018, Mr. Skeja was the Head of the Accounting and Financial Control Department. In 2018, Mr. Skeja was appointed to the position of Finance and Administration Group Head in BKT Kosovo SH.A. In addition to duties and responsibilities as Finance and Administration Group Head, from 01.03.2022, Mr. Skeja has been appointed as Second Deputy Chief Executive Officer at BKT Kosova Sh.A.

Mr. Xhafaj graduated in Management at the University of Istanbul and holds a master’s degree in European Economic Studies at the University of Tirana. Mr. Xhafaj has a long working experience in the banking sector as well as a 3-year experience in telecommunications. His professional career began in 2002 at the Internal Auditing Department of BKT Albania, in the position of Internal Assistant Auditor, where he was promoted in 2008 to the position of Deputy Director, which he held until 2012. During this time, he was also engaged in the position of Secretary of the Board of Directors of BKT Albania. From 2012 to 2015, Mr. Xhafaj was appointed to the position of Internal Audit Director at the telecommunications company Albtelecom Sh.a., where he also established the Internal Audit function in this company. In 2015, he was appointed Head of the Internal Audit Group of BKT Kosovo JSC. In addition to the various qualifications in the banking sector, Mr. Xhafaj owns the CIA Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

Mr. Önder has a Master Degree in Business Administration and Bachelor Diploma in Mathematics Engineering. His experience in the banking sector began in 2009 in Aktif Bank at Treasury and Risk Management. He was promoted as Market Risk Manager in 2015 and then continuing as Chief Risk Officer at Aktif Bank. Starting from 1^st November 2021 Mr. Önder is part of BKT Kosova as Risk Management Group Head.

Mr. Aliu graduated in Economics and Statistics at the University of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT Kosovo – AUK). He has a master’s degree in Banking, Finance and Accounting from the University of Pristina and continues his doctoral studies in the field of Economics. Mr. Aliu started his banking career at BKT Kosova in 2014, initially as a Credit Analyst, and then he was appointed to the position of Internal Auditor. In 2017, Mr. Aliu was appointed Head of the Internal Control Department. Furthermore, Mr. Aliu has been part of the managing team in the project for the transformation of the bank from a foreign branch to an independent entity in Kosovo, while he continues to manage the project for the transformation and re-engineering of the bank’s processes and operating models. In 2021, Mr. Aliu was appointed to the position of Group Head for Central Operations, Information Technology and Human Resources at BKT Kosova.

Mr. Inan has graduated from Business Administration at Bilkent University in Turkey. He holds a master’s degree in Financial Engineering and Risk Management from Özyeğin University. His experience in the banking sector began in 2012 while he was working as Assistant Manager at FX Trading and Asset and Liability Management under Treasury at Aktif Bank in Turkey, and from 2017 to 2018 he has worked as Foreign Exchange Trader at the Asset and Liability Management Department at Garanti Bank in Turkey. In 2018, Mr. Inan was appointed to Financial Institutions Department Head at BKT Kosovo JSC, while from October 2018 he was appointed to the position of Treasury, Financial Institutions and Private Banking Group Head in BKT Kosovo JSC. Then, Mr. Inan has established Private Banking Department in June, 2020. He also holds the chairperson position at the Treasury Committee of Kosovo Banking Association since June, 2019.

Mr. Ratkoceri graduated in Management and Informatics at Iliria College in Pristina. Mr. Ratkoceri has a long working experience. His career began in 2001 as Program Administrator and Financial Assistant at IOM (International Organization for Migration). From 2002 to 2004 he worked at Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo JSC in the Operations Supervisor, from 2004 to 2005 he worked as Loan Officer at ProCredit Bank, while from 2005 to 2007 Mr. Ratkoceri worked as Administrative and Finance Manager at Union Commerce in Pristina. From 2007 to 2009 he returned to the banking sector as ProCredit Bank’s Credit Risk Assessment Manager. In 2009, he joined BKT Kosovo as Manager of Department for Corporate Credit and Trade. In 2017, Mr. Ratkoceri was appointed to Risk Management Group Head, and in 2018 he was appointed to Loan Management and Legal Group Head in BKT Kosovo JSC.

Mrs. Buxhovi Ahmetaj graduated in Business Management in Prishtina and received a Master’s Degree in Leadership from the University of Liverpool in The United Kingdom. Mrs. Buxhovi Ahmetaj has a long experience in business management in London, while her experience in the banking sector started in Kosovo at Reiffeisen Bank in 2005, initially engaged as Sales Coordinator for Individuals, and from 2006 she has been promoted to the position of Head of Customer Service. Since 2008, she has been working at Banka Kombëtare Tregtare Kosovë, starting in the position of Head of Branch Network, being also responsible for Corporate Communication and Public Relations. In July 2018, Mrs. Buxhovi Ahmetaj has been appointed to the position of Head of Liability Management and Corporate Communication Department, and since 2019 she has been appointed as Retail Banking Group Head at BKT Kosovo JSC.

Mr. Galip Tözge graduated from Marmara University’s Department of Economics (English) and received an MBA from the University of Missouri (USA). He commenced his banking career in 1993 at Citibank, and joined Akbank T.A.Ş. in 2002. He worked at Akbank and associated companies for 12 years serving in various senior management posts, including Assistant General Manager at Akbank, and Board Member at Ak Portföy Yönetimi A.Ş. and Ak Yatırım Menkul Değerler A.Ş. In 2015, he was appointed CEO at Aktif Bank and currently serves as President of the Banking Group at Çalık Holding. Mr. Tözge has joined the Board of Directors of BKT in February 2017.

Mr. Abdurrahman Balkiz graduated in Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Çukurova University in Turkey. He has a long experience in Banking sector. His career began in 1992 as Assistant Auditor in Türk Ticaret Bankası A.Ş. From 1995 to 1996 , he was appointed as Assistant Auditor at the Arab-Turkish Bank-Turkey. After that, he joined Kentbank A.S in Turkey as Auditor, then as Senior Auditor from 1996-2000. Since 2000 , Mr. Balkiz joined BKT Albania as Internal Audit Group Head , until the end of 2006. Then he was appointed as Operations Group Head in BKT Albania ,until the end of 2013. From the beginning of 2014 to 2018 , Mr. Balkiz was appointed as Country Manager of BKT Kosova Sh.A .  In 2018 , he was appointed as Member of the Board of Directors in BKT Kosova Sh.A.

Mr. Mert Turgut Çalık graduated from University of Westminster in the Department of Marketing Management in London, United Kingdom, in July 2019. In June 2015, Mr. Çalık completed a Foundation Business Course at Bellerbys College, in London, United Kingdom. He commenced his professional career since 2011, working in different roles for Gap Construction (Gap İnşaat) in the “Metropol Instanbul” Project, Çalık Holding in the departments of Finance and Control and GROUPM in the Marketing Department. Mr. Çalık serves as financial expert in Gap Southeast Textiles (Çalık Denim Tekstil) since 2012, whereas he is the Vice Chairman of MTH Technologies. In 2019, he was appointed as a Board Member in Secom Turkey and E-Kent, while in June 2020 he joined the Board of Directors of BKT Kosova.

Mr. Bakkal graduated from Bogazici University in Turkey. Mr. Bakkal has a long experience in the banking sector. His experience began in 2008, as Corporate Marketing Manager at Aktif Bank. From 2013 to 2014, he was appointed to the position of Corporate Banking Manager, and from 2014 to 2015 he was appointed to the position of Manager of the Main Branch of Aktif Bank. From 2015 to 2018, Mr. Bakkal was appointed to the position of Corporate Marketing Director. From 2017 until 2018, he was appointed member of the Board of Inovaban – Financial and Innovation Consulting A.S. In 2018, he was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer and Board Member at BKT Kosovo JSC. Currently, Mr. Bakkal is the Chairman of the Board of Directors in Aktif Asset Management in Turkey.

Born in 1950, Mehmet Usta graduated from the Department of Economics and Finance at the Eskişehir Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences. He has more than 40 years of banking experience. Following his service in Anadolu Bank between 1979 and 1987 as inspector and executive, he held various high-level executive positions in Emlak Bank both in Turkey and abroad between 1987 and 1994. Then, between 1994 until March 2007, he served at the Banque du Bosphore in Paris as CEO and Board Member. In April 2008, he joined Aktif Bank as the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors. Since July 2009 – onwards Mr. Usta acts as the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Banka Kombetare Tregtare, a subsidiary of Çalık Holding operating in Albania. He has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Banka Kombetare Tregtare Kosovo between May 2018 – April 2022. He has been as Board  Member at the Brussels-based  WSBI – World Savings and Retail Banking Institute since May 2012 until December 2023. Since March 2015 – onwards, Mr. Usta acts as  The Chairman of the Board of Directors  at Aktifbank subsidiaries UPT Ödeme Hizmetleri A.Ş., Sigortayeri Sigorta ve Reasürans Brokerlik A.Ş.