Turkey: First hackathon for capital markets begins

By Ergin Garip

ISTANBUL (AA) - Technology entrepreneurs from all over Turkey gathered on Friday for the country's first hackathon for capital markets in Istanbul.

Seratho-in, the Capital Markets Software Marathon, began with the coordination of the Turkey Capital Market Association (TSPB), with Anadolu Agency as the event's communication partner.

Alp Keler, head of the TSPB, said in an opening speech that the aim of the hackathon was to raise awareness about capital market institutions and products as well as encourage the software industry to move towards the field.

"The capital market is widely seen as very technical and complex, and it is thought that it takes a lot of money and knowledge to invest in this field," said Keler.

"We try to emphasize that our capital markets are accessible on every platform. We believe that our Serathon-in event will be one of them," he added.

Keler also said that the body provided mentoring for teams competing in the marathon.

He stressed that the TSPB set up an inventory of data and API sets that could be used to solve problems in the capital market.

Keler said that the world entered an era of "open data", with many countries in Europe, the U.S. and Japan having implemented important open data-oriented platforms and urging the public and private sector to open their data.

Some 148 contestants in 54 teams have applied to the marathon from different regions of Turkey since August. The jury later identified 25 finalist teams who will have 48 hours to design financial technologies to develop capital markets.

The finalists are expected to develop projects that would produce solutions to problems faced in capital markets.