Utkun Birsen

Senior Product Owner | Payments, Open Banking & Cash Management | SWIFT, Cross-Border, AI/ML | Transactions | Digital Banking

Istanbul, Istanbul, Türkiye

About

Experience

  • Senior Product Owner at Türkiye İş Bankası
    Oct 2010 - Present · 15 yrs 9 mos

    Product Owner in Transaction Banking with 10+ years of experience in payments, cash management, and digital banking. Currently leading a Scrum team at Türkiye İş Bankası, managing payment systems that process over 200 million transactions annually, exceeding 150B TL in volume via mobile banking (İşCep). Responsible for end-to-end product ownership across SWIFT, Payments, Western Union, Collections, integrations. Core focus areas: • Cross-border payments & SWIFT infrastructure • Open Banking & API-based financial services • Pricing strategy & revenue optimization • Regulatory compliance (AML/KYC aligned product design) • Customer experience & process optimization Delivered multiple high-impact initiatives: • AI-based transaction classification for SWIFT flows, eliminating manual operations • Machine learning–driven name matching improvement • Account Pre-validation solution for B2B bulk payments, improving STP and reducing rejection rates Previously led large-scale integrations (Western Union, HGS/OGS toll systems) and managed payment ecosystems with 400+ institutional partners. Strong background in Agile/Scrum, stakeholder management, and building scalable financial products. Focused on creating efficient, compliant, and high-volume payment solutions.

  • Merchandising Assistant at Best Buy
    Oct 2009 - Sep 2010 · 1 yr

    . Responsible for managing prices and promotions . Meeting with suppliers and negotiating terms of contracts . Responsible for creating weekly inserts . Producing reports with sales forecasts as well as analyzing sales figures . Managing stock levels and reacting to changes in consumer demand . Researching new trends and products