Ata Can Bertay
Assistant Professor of Finance Sabancı Business School, Sabancı University
I am an Assistant Professor of Finance at Sabancı Business School, Sabancı University, and a researcher at the European Banking Center, Tilburg University. My research studies banking, financial stability, macro-finance and corporate governance, with recent work on the finance wage premium, gender and finance, and how new technologies affect credit markets.
In 2025–2026 I was a Senior Lecturer in Finance at Stockholm University, where I received the Ballerina Award for Exceptional Pedagogical Ability (student-nominated). Before joining Sabancı in 2019, I was a Research Economist in the World Bank’s Development Research Group (2015–2019) and lead author of the Global Financial Development Report 2017/2018 and 2019/2020. I directed the Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum from 2021 to 2025 and have consulted for the World Bank, the EBRD and the Inter-American Development Bank. I hold a PhD in Economics from Tilburg University.
Research interests
- Banking
- Financial stability
- Macro-finance
- Corporate governance
- Financial development
- Labor and finance
News
- Oct 2026 The World Bank launched FinData, its new Financial Development Data and the successor to the Global Financial Development Database. I was part of the core team. Explore FinData · Methodology
- Sep 2026 New study for the European Parliament with Harry Huizinga: “Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP) Reform: Tackling Slow-Burning Risks from Nonbank Financial Institutions.” PDF
- Sep 2026 Back at Sabancı Business School after a year as Senior Lecturer in Finance at Stockholm University.
- Jul 2026 New working paper: “Firm Automation and Cost of Lending: Micro Insights for an Emerging Market,” CRBF Working Paper 27-003. PDF
- Jun 2026 “Decomposing the Finance Wage Premium: Contributions of Technology and Risk” published in the Journal of Corporate Finance. Paper
- 2026 “Does Workforce Gender Diversity Influence Banks’ High-level Decisions?” published in Emerging Markets Finance and Trade. Paper
- 2026 Received the Ballerina Award for Exceptional Pedagogical Ability, Stockholm Business School.
- May 2025 “Gender Inequality and Economic Growth: Evidence from Industry-Level Data” published in Empirical Economics. Paper
- Apr 2025 Received the Science Academy Young Scientist Award (BAGEP) in Economics.
Honors
- 2026 Ballerina Award for Exceptional Pedagogical Ability, Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University (student-nominated)
- 2025 Science Academy Young Scientist Award (BAGEP) in Economics
- 2020 World Bank DEC VPU Team Award
- 2015 Turkishtime “40 Star Economists Under 40”
Contact
Email: ata.bertay@gmail.com
Sabancı Business School, Sabancı University
Orta Mahalle, 34956 Tuzla, Istanbul, Türkiye