INTERNATIONAL FINANCE & BANKING SUMMIT 2026

Namig Aliyev was born in 1977 in Baku. He is a graduate of Baku State University. During his student years, he worked on a number of periodical publications. In 1999-2000 he worked in the Republican Scientific and Technical Library and in 2001-2003 in the Main Department of Cultural Education of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan as a leading specialist. As of 2004, he worked as a correspondent, leading correspondent, assistant editor, editor at the Free Azerbaijan Broadcasting Company "Azad Azərbaycan".

He started working in the Communication Department of the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan in May 2010. Since July 2011, he has been the Head of the Public Relations Division of aforementioned department. He is the presenter of "Economic News" program  at Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting Closed Joint-Stock Company (AZTV).

Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Born on April 7, 1975, in Imishli region of Azerbaijan Republic.

Education:

In 1992-1997, he received higher education at the Azerbaijan State University of Economics.

In 2004, he received a second master's degree in Journalism at the Institute of Public Relations of Georgia.

In 2009, he received his PhD in Economics and in 2017 he got Degree on Doctor of Economic Sciences.

In 2021, he graduated from Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Education program "Leading Economic Growth". 

In 2022-2023, he graduated from the University of Oxford's master’s-level qualification - Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Strategy and Innovation.

Pedagogical activity

In 2013 Vusal Gasimli was given the title of Associate Professor.

V.Gasimli was engaged in pedagogical activity in the UNEC Special Talented Group and MBA program in 2010-2014.

V.Gasimli provided public lectures at Harvard University, Washington University, California University, Cairo University, Seoul Hanyan and Hankuk Universities, and Rio de Janeiro University.

He worked as a guest scholar at Korea International Economic Policy Institute in 2013.

Vusal Gasimli is professor at the Azerbaijan Public Administration Academy under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan since 2020.

Vusal Gasimli was awarded the title of professor by the decision of the Supreme Attestation Commission Under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated April 19, 2024.

He has 10 books and about 500 scientific and publicist articles in Azerbaijani, Russian, Korean and English.

Labor Activity:

During the 12.05.2000-06.12.2003, the economic consultant in Express newspaper edition,

15.02.2005-19.11.2005, Economic columnist at ANS-PRESS Publishing House LLC,

19.11.2005-30.04.2007, President of ANS-PRESS Publishing House LLC,

09.02.2009-11.05.2011, Deputy of head of the Department at Azerbaijan Socio-Political University,

In 2007-2011, he worked on projects implemented by the European Union, the World Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and several international organizations.

In 2011-2016, he worked as Head of the Department for Economic Analysis and Globalization of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

In 2016, he became an economic development consultant for the Asian Development Bank.

In 2015, he represented Azerbaijan at the T20 platform of brain centers of the G20.

From 10.05.2016 to present he is the Executive Director of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

He is also a member of the government commission established on the basis of the Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated July 13, 2016 No. 2199 "On additional measures to improve the business environment in the Republic of Azerbaijan and further improvement of the position of our country in international rankings".

Vusal Gasimli was appointed Focal Point of UNESCAP in 2021.

Awards

Vusal Gasimli got the award of Astana Economic Forum for outstanding research achievements in 2012.

He was awarded the "Progress" Medal in 2018 by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

He was awarded the "15th anniversary of the Ministry of Defense Industry of the Republic of Azerbaijan (2005-2020)" jubilee medal in 2022.

He was awarded the "100 years of Heydar Aliyev (1923-2023)" jubilee medal by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2024.

He was awarded the 25th Anniversary Medal (1998–2023) by the Mine Action Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2024.

Vusal Gasimli speaks Azerbaijani, English, Russian and Spanish at A1 level.

Married, has three children.

Cristina Doros is a Senior Vice President, and Group Country Manager for Visa in the CISSEE region.

Cristina leads Visa's operations and strategy in 17 countries across Southern and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Moldova.

Prior to the current position, Cristina was holding the role of a Regional Manager for Central Asia and Azerbaijan at Visa. In this role, Cristina was managing overall Visa business in these markets focusing on strategy development and implementation, business development, technology, and innovations.

Before moving to Central Asia, Cristina was managing Caucasus cluster at Visa.

She has more than 25 years of experience in retail banking, information technology, innovations, cards, and mobile payments. Cristina joined Visa in 2016 to lead regional Core Products team overseeing Core products (Debit, Credit and Premium), loyalty platform development, digital solutions, and push payments.

Cristina holds a Master’s Degree with Honors in Economics from IEDC-Bled School of Business, Slovenia.  

Orkhan Mammadov was born in 1984 in Baku.

2005 - graduated from the Baku State University, Faculty of International Relations.

2005 - studied at the Regent’s University London on the International Business and Finance Program.

2009 - received master's degree on Business Administration, 2012 – second higher education on Finance and Credit at the Azerbaijan State Economic University.

Held various positions at the Ministry of Industry and Energy, Ministry of Economy.

Since 2018 has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (KOBİA) of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

After graduating from the secondary school he was admitted to the department of “Accounting” at Azerbaijan State Economic University and completed the full course on the speciality of “Economist” in 1981. Zakir Nuriyev started his labour activity as Leading Accountant at the “Control and Inspection” department of the Ministry of Communications, Azerbaijan Republic in 1981.

 Zakir Nuriyev did his military service during 1981-1983. He worked in the capacity of Accountant – Inspector, Chief Inspector and Deputy Chief Accountant at the “Control and Inspection” department of the Ministry of Communications, Azerbaijan Republic from July, 1983 until January, 1989 after having served in the military.

 He was appointed to the post of Manager of the “Control and Accounting” division at “Regional Communication” Production Association of the Ministry of Communications, Azerbaijan Republic in 1989. Zakir Nuriyev worked in the capacity of Chairman of the Management Board at “Rabitabank” Joint-Stock Commercial Bank during 1993-1998 and has been acting as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at “Rabitabank” Open Joint-Stock Company since 1998 up to date. He was elected President of the Azerbaijan Banks Association in 1996 and worked in that capacity until 2006. He has been member of the Presidium at Azerbaijan Banks Association from 2006 till 2015. He was re-elected President of Azerbaijan Banks Association in 2015.

Nurlan joined Visa in 2013 bringing 9 years of experience in banking, marketing, business development and payment cards to the team. Prior to joining Visa, he was Head of Payment Cards at DemirBank (Azerbaijan), responsible for acquiring payment products, payment card risk and digital channel development. Prior to joining DemirBank, Nurlan worked at UniBank, where he was in charge of marketing and business development.

Since 2022, Nurlan Hajiyev has been appointed to the position of Senior Director, Regional Manager in Azerbaijan, based in Baku.

 In this role, Nurlan continued his work on business development in Azerbaijan, ensuring local team’s integration and alignment. With nine years’ experience at Visa, Nurlan initially joined as business development manager being a single representative of Visa in Azerbaijan for 6 years, contributing to the team's recent growth. Throughout this time, Nurlan has been a valuable member of the Visa CISSEE team, building strong client relationships, driving business development, strategy and its implementation in the market. Nurlan has greatly contributed to such milestones in the Azerbaijan market as implementation of VTS and launching Apple Pay, launching first in CEMEA B2B Connect along with other key achievements

Mr. Ramil Mahmudov is a Deputy Director of the Payment systems and settlements department at Central Bank of Azerbaijan Republic. He is an experienced professional in payment systems, e-banking, card business, digital payments with more than 20 years at central banking. As co-author of several regulations and recommendations for payment institutions and Fintech, he also familiar with international experience about payments systems ecosystem and payment instruments and also with risk management, fraud management, chargeback rules.

Mr. Mahmudov holds Master’s degree in Banking and Finance from University of Luxembourg and Master’s degree in Finance from Azerbaijan State Economic University. He received Executive education diploma from New York University Stern School of Business and numerous training certificates in the field of payments and management in Europe and Asia.

He has been working at NBA Technologies International LLC for 10 years.

Sadig Akhundov is an expert with over 15 years of experience at the intersection of banking and information technology. Throughout his career, he has successfully led a  range of digital transformation initiatives across several banks, driving innovation, operational efficiency, and technological modernization.

Currently, he is a Director of the IT Operations Department at the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan, where he oversees the  critical IT functions, ensures the resilience and reliability of national payment infrastructure.

Azer is the Executive Director at the Azerbaijan Fintech Association (Azfina). He is a financial sector professional with over 15 years of international experience in banking and fintech. His main areas of expertise include digital payments, fintech regulation, and compliance, private and investment banking. As the head of the fintech association, he is committed to fostering the development of digital financial services, promoting fintech innovation, and enhancing international collaborations.

Yevgen Lisnyak is Senior Director at Visa and the Head of Strategic Partnerships, Fintech & Ventures in Ukraine, CIS & South-East Europe (17 markets). His key responsibilities include identifying, support and development of the high potential partnerships for Visa in new robustly growing fintech business environment driving cashless economy.

Yevgen joined Visa in 2017 as Director, Head of Innovation Solutions. In this role Yevgen successfully managed and launched transit and smart city solutions in Ukraine and CIS countries. Now Yevgen focuses on support of neobanks, mobile finance services of MNOs, digital products of traditional banks, innovative disruptive fintech companies as well as fintech ecosystem development on 17 markets.

Yevgen has deep expertize in banking, payments and Fintech, he ensured support and built Visa strategic partnerships with wide range of fintech companies in Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and other countries.

Yevgen Lisnyak brings to Visa 15 years of international experience in IT and consulting gained with leading international companies. Mr. Lisnyak holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Physics and Mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT).

Teymur Aghakishiyev is a Chief Operating Officer at “AccessBank”. He has 16 years of experience in banking sector and has enjoyed many executive positions throughout his career in product development and management, product sales, strategy, digital payments, payments and cards infrastructure, treasury, settlements and cash management.

He loves to dig into customer problems and solve them with modern technology and puts the customer at the center of all that he do.

Teymur Aghakishiyev holds MBA degree in Banking from Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

He is a professional trainer in banking.

Alexander has 20+ years of experience in payments and leads product development at eComCharge, the company behind the white-label SaaS platform beGateway.

Hikmet Can Yilmazsoy is the Head of Türkiye, Caucasus and Central Asia at Swift, where he is overseeing the relations and engagements with key stakeholders in the financial ecosystem including central banks, financial institutions, market infrastructures and regulatory bodies. Since joining Swift in 2018, Can served as the Country Manager for Türkiye and Qatar until his current role.

Prior to his tenure at Swift, he led business development and project management activities in cash management, payment systems and digital banking areas with a leading bank in Türkiye. In addition, Can drove high-impact strategic initiatives in the customer experience management, retail banking and corporate finance areas throughout his 16 years of banking career.

He holds an MBA degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a BSc in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University, with executive education from Columbia University and INSEAD.

Otabek Nasirov is the Chairman at Central Asian Fintech Association, a member of the expert council at Cyber Park, AICA, and the working groups of the Foreign Investors Council (FIC) under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Otabek actively participates in the development of the fintech market and community in Central Asia, regulatory sandboxes and local legislation of the fintech industry, including education on blockchain technology, convergence technologies such as AI, digital assets, cyber security and others. Represents and lobbies for the interests of the fintech community within key government agencies of Uzbekistan, including the Ministry of Digital Technologies, the Central Bank, the Competition Promotion and Consumer Protection Committee, the National Agency for Perspective Projects, and the State Tax Committee.

Otabek member of the UMAY Angels Club, ICLUB by Venture Found TA Ventures and cooperates with the Uzbekistan Venture Capital Association (UzVCA), the National Venture Capital Fund (UzVC), and the AloqaVentures.

His knowledge and experience are the result of working in international and global companies such as Coca-Cola, Carlsberg Group, General Motors, Ernst & Young and SIT Learning within the Swiss International Research Institute Schaffhausen Institute of Technology and others.

Graduate of the Tashkent State Law Institute and the Moscow School of Management "Skolkovo".

Otabek is an ambassador for Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) and Chapter Zero Uzbekistan (Climate Governance Initiative | CGI ).

Farrukh Farajullayev is a commercial leader with over 10 years of experience in the IT, cloud, and digital technology sectors. As the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at AzInTelecom, he drives commercial strategy and execution, overseeing key functions such as sales, marketing, product development, and business development. His expertise in cloud, digital solutions, and emerging technologies enables him to design and implement initiatives that deliver substantial revenue growth and business expansion.

Farrukh has played a pivotal role in the development and rollout of services including AzInTelecom’s cloud solutions, the SİMA digital solutions platform, and other innovative offerings designed to support businesses in their digital transformation journey. His strategic vision has led to effective go-to-market strategies aligned with market needs, resulting in significant revenue and market share growth.

Committed to customer satisfaction, innovation, and collaboration, Farrukh has cultivated strong relationships with clients, partners, and stakeholders, fostering long-term loyalty and sustainable success.

Fidan Tofidi joined the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2023 as an advisor on innovations. Since 2024, she has been leading the newly established Financial Technologies and Innovations Department.

Under her leadership, the department is engaged in key areas such as the Regulatory Sandbox, product research and development (including Open Banking and Distributed KYC platforms), and the development and coordination of the fintech ecosystem. Currently, a number of strategic projects are being implemented under her guidance in these areas, and efforts continue toward integrating financial technologies into public policy.

Before joining the Central Bank, Fidan worked at PASHA Bank, where she was responsible for managing partnerships and overseeing innovative projects. During this time, she contributed to strengthening cooperation between the financial sector and technology companies, and integrating digital solutions into banking services.

A significant milestone in Fidan’s career was her role at Azercell Telecom, where she worked at the Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. She led one of the first initiatives supporting the development of the startup ecosystem in Azerbaijan, focusing on promoting innovative ideas, advancing technological entrepreneurship, and supporting young startup founders.

Akif Bağırov hazırda Azərbaycan Respublikasının Mərkəzi Bankında Sədrin müşaviri vəzifəsində çalışır. Onun texnologiya sahəsində 15 ildən çox, bank sektorunda isə 8 ildən artıq informasiya və kibertəhlükəsizlik üzrə ixtisaslaşmış təcrübəsi vardır. O, dəyişkən maliyyə mühitində həm effektiv, həm də praktik olan təhlükəsizlik proqramlarının hazırlanması, tənzimləyici tələblərə uyğunluq, risklərin azaldılması və strateji istiqamətin müəyyən edilməsi sahələrində fəaliyyət göstərir.

2021–2023-cü illər ərzində Akif Bağırov PAŞA Bank ASC-nin Təhlükəsizlik blokuna daxil olan İnformasiya Təhlükəsizliyi Xidmətləri şöbəsinin rəhbəri kimi çalışmış və PCI DSS, NIST və CIS kimi beynəlxalq çərçivələrlə uyğunluğun təmin olunmasına rəhbərlik etmişdir.

Araz Hasan-zadeh has over 8 years of experience in payment systems, card operations, clearing, and digital fraud analytics.

His core areas of expertise include fraud risk modeling, developing behavior-based analytical approaches, and detecting anomalies across payment channels. Araz also leads a range of advanced initiatives focused on optimizing and automating business processes, ensuring security against fraudulent activities, implementing fraud management systems, and enriching data for better fraud detection.

Vik Omelçenko Banza şirkətində kommersiya direktoru (CCO) və idarəedici tərəfdaşdır. 20 illik İT təcrübəsinə malik Vik uğurlu lider, vençur investor və startap mentorudur.

Banza 17 ölkədə 200-dən çox əməkdaşı ilə fəaliyyət göstərir və 300-dən artıq biznesin avtomatlaşdırılması layihəsini uğurla başa çatdırıb. Şirkət CRM və BPM sistemləri, həmçinin veb və mobil tətbiqlər üzrə ixtisaslaşıb. Vik no-code texnologiyalar və proses idarəçiliyinin sinerjisi sayəsində bankçılıq, satış, logistika, istehsalat və müştəri xidməti sahələrində bizneslərin sürətlənməsinə və təkmilləşdirilməsinə kömək edir.

O, tədbirdə no-code yanaşmanın müasir bizneslərə necə çeviklik və innovasiya gətirdiyini bölüşəcək.

Faraj Akhundov holds a Ph.D. in Economics and is the author of nearly 20 academic publications. His research focuses on financial management, international economic relations, and the development of capital markets.

He currently serves as the Head of the Treasury Department at Xalq Bank OJSC and as the Executive Director of Xalq Kapital Investment Company CJSC. With over 14 years of experience in the banking sector and nearly 12 years in investment management, he has played a key role in advancing investment services, improving financial instruments, and promoting financial literacy among investors.

Faraj regularly speaks at local and international events, sharing his analytical perspectives, evaluations, and insights on trends in financial markets with diverse audiences.

He is also well known in the public sphere for his analytical articles and video content on finance, offering commentary on global economic developments and contributing actively to financial education.

Dr Michael Salmony is an internationally recognised leader on strategy of business innovations in  digital and financial services with a particular focus on Payments, Open Finance, FinTech, Digital  Identity, B2B/e-Invoicing/SCF, AI for Financial Services and Electronic Money/CBDC/Stablecoins.

He is board-level advisor to major international banks, industry associations, regulators, top  consultancies, service providers and investors across the world. He regularly helps shape future  directions in all key decision making bodies (e.g. European Commission/ European  Parliament/ECB/CEPS Think-Tank in Europe, and central banks from Japan to Uruguay and  Kazakhstan). For 10 years he served as Executive Adviser to the Board of Worldline Financial Services,  helping to bring them from a local player to become the world’s 4th largest financial processor of  transactional services, which handles over 17 trillion Euro per year.

He also works with multiple regions where financial innovations are currently emerging - for example  with the World Bank in Central Asia, as Board Member of Fintech Africa, as Advisory Board Member  to Mastercard in Latin America, as strategic partner to FinTech Istanbul.

His views are much in demand as keynote speaker at international events and he appears on  TV/Radio/all electronic media on advances in finance and is quoted extensively (e.g. Financial Times,  Harvard Business Manager, New Scientist, The Economist and governments from Ghana to Malaysia).  He teaches at the Oxford Business School on "AI in Fintech and Open Banking” and at further  universities such as in Australia, Turkey, Germany. He has published much own original work which  has been translated into many languages including German, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, Polish, Danish,  Turkish, Russian, Chinese and Japanese and is cited in hundreds of publications around the world. He  is extensively networked into the new financial services space and has one of the top most viewed  profiles on business social media platforms.

He is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers, Freeman of the City of London  and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce FRSA.

Previous positions include Director Business Development of leading national central bank (Bank of  the Year, Best Innovator Award).

Before entering the world of finance, he helped transform companies and business models in many  industries as IBM's Director of Market Development Media and Communications Technologies.

He studied at the University of Cambridge UK and is married, with two millennial children.

Chairman of the Board, Banks Association of Türkiye