Dr Ozan Özerk is a Norwegian medical doctor and entrepreneur of Turkish Cypriot descent. His father, Kamil Özerk, is a professor at the University of Oslo's Department of Education. His mother, Meral R. Özerk, is a senior advisor at Statped, specializing in children with learning disabilities. She is also the author of several children's books in the field of education, bilingualism and autism.
Early life
Özerk was born in Nicosia, North Cyprus but moved to Oslo, Norway at a young age where he grew up. He is the son of Kamil Özerk and Meral R. Özerk. His father is a professor at the University of Oslo's Department of Education and his mother is a senior advisor at Statped specializing in children with learning disabilities. After serving in the Norwegian Armed Forces, Dr Ozan Özerk studied medicine at the University of Oslo between 2001 and 2008. Dr Özerk did his medical internship at Narvik Hospital and later at Bjerkvik Legesenter 2010 to 2012. During his time at UNN Narvik, Dr Özerk co-authored an article on the reduction of non-communicable diseases for the World Health Organization.
Business career
Dr Özerk has been involved in numerous start-ups from an early age. Below is a brief highlight of some of the more recent businesses he has founded.
Norsk Ideutvikling
In 2005, Dr Özerk co-founded :nb:Norsk Ideutvikling|Norsk Ideutvikling, an online media company which created the social networking site Biip.no in 2005. In 2008, Biip.no was acquired by and Nettavisen for an estimated valuation of 100+ million krone. In the following two years, Dr Özerk and his Biip.no co-founders continued engaging with innovation in the online space, focusing on the growing sectors of social gaming, online dating, marketing and mobile payments.
Clearsettle
Slowly shifting his focus to the FinTech industry, Dr Özerk co-founded Clearsettle in 2016, a London-based white-label B2B card payment and APM platform provider authorised by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority as a payment institution. In early 2018, Dr Özerk saw the growing demand for digital banking and new market opportunities created by , as well as new regulation, such as the Second Payment Services Directive, and shifted his focus to create a global banking platform. Dr Özerk completed an asset sale of Clearsettle in Q1 2019.
European Merchant Bank
Dr Özerk is the founder of European Merchant Bank. It was granted its banking license by the European Central Bank in late November 2018. The bank is based in Lithuania and regulated by the Bank of Lithuania. The primary focus is on serving SMEs and retail clients in Lithuania and financial technology companies across the European Economic Area.
OpenPayd Group
Strengthening his presence in the FinTech industry, Dr Özerk founded in 2018. OpenPayd unlocks banking and payments for business through a modular platform that is underpinned by a global network of licences and accessible through a single API. It is headquartered in The Shard, London, with group companies in the Netherlands, Malta, Bulgaria, Turkey, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil and the USA. The following companies form part of OpenPayd: , , CFD Team Malta and , SettleGo and Ozan are regulated UK e-money institutions with passported rights across the European Economic Area. Ozan holds an E-money and Payment License issued by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency. CFD Team Malta is a financial institution licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority, with permission to issue electronic money and provide payment services.
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming.
Canadian licence
OpenPayd Canada Inc. has an approved FINTRAC registration.
Other Businesses
Dr Özerk is also the founder and owner of EuroTrader, InvestAlgo and RS Positive.
EuroTrader
Dr Özerk is the founder of Eurotrade Investments RGB Ltd, a Cypriot Investment Firm, licensed and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission under license 279/15 and under the approved domain . Eurotrader is governed by the Markets of Financial Instruments Directive of the European Union and has passported rights across the European Economic Area. Eurotrader provides dedicated trading services in both the B2B and B2C domain.
InvestAlgo
In June 2018, Dr Özerk founded . The company is an exchange technology provider for institutional and retail brokers, with offices in the UK and Cyprus. The is the key component of the platform, which connects the broker to multiple liquidity providers and is designed to support multi-tiered best bid/offer aggregation to provide clients with better spreads and high-calibre execution. The Bridge supports aggregation, risk management, reporting and real-time monitoring among other functionalities.
RS Positive
Dr Özerk continued to grow his businesses by founding in 2018. RS Positive is an innovative software company, focusing on bespoke financial technology services, such as payment gateways, digital wallets, FX services, online security and blockchain. The company is accredited in Turkey as a research and development company with its headquarters in Istanbul and a R&D centre in Edirne, Turkey.
