Professor Markos Zachariadis holds the Chair of Financial Technology (FinTech) & Information Systems at Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), The University of Manchester where he is also Founding Director of the Centre for Financial Technology Studies (CFTS). In addition, Professor Zachariadis is a member of the World Economic Forum’s AI in Financial Services Initiative (after serving five years on the WEF’s Financial and Monetary Systems Council); Advisory Board member of the Abu Dhabi Global Market's Research Centre, FinTech Research Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Digital Innovation (CDI), University of Cambridge, and Chair of the UK FinTech Academic Network (UKFAN) among many other industry affiliations and academic appointments. Markos' research sits at the cross section of economics of innovation, digital strategy, and financial technology studies, and has studied extensively the economic impact of ICT adoption on bank performance, the diffusion of payment networks, and the role of data & standards in payment infrastructures (SWIFT), financial markets (LEI), and digital banking (Open Banking), among other things. His research has been published in top academic journals such as MIS Quarterly, Research Policy, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, etc. and has been awarded the NET Institute Award (NYU Stern Business School) for his study on the economics of payment networks, and the SWIFT Institute, SMS, and GRI Awards for his research on Open APIs and Digital Transformation in Banking. He is also co-author of The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT): Cooperative governance for network innovation, standards, and community (London: Routledge 2014) and co-editor of The PAYTECH Book to be published by Wiley (2020).
Prof. Zachariadis is board advisor, mentor, and international keynote speaker and has been invited to present his research insights to various international conferences and organizations (e.g. WEF, UK Parliament, SIBOS, Money2020, GRI Summit, Bank of England, FCA, Microsoft, ADGM Finance Week, Gitex Global, Central Bank of Seychelles, World Bank/IMF, Bank of Canada/Payments Canada, Innovate Finance Global Summit, SWIFT, Scotiabank, IBM, Financial Times Leadership Series, EY, Bank of Cyprus, Z/Yen, APIdays, etc.). He was also the organizer of an international conference on PayTech innovation which was funded by Gates Foundation, MasterCard and Capco, and is currently the Chair of the UKFAN Annual Conference funded by EY. As a recognised expert, Markos often shares his work and perspectives with media outlets such as The Times, World Finance, Financial Times' Banker Magazine, Bloomberg, Fortune Magazine, BBC, CNN, The Telegraph, Sky News, Wired Magazine, USA Today, ITV News, The Conversation, among many others.
Prior to joining the University of Manchester, Prof. Zachariadis was Associate Professor in Management Information Systems & Digital Innovation at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick (where he also Directed the Executive Education Diploma in Digital leadership), Visiting Professor in Financial Technologies (FinTech) at Ivey Business School, Western University in Canada, Visiting Professor at Antai College of Economics and Management (ACEM) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, Research Associate at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, Visiting Scholar at London Business School, and Research Economist at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics. Until recently Zachariadis was also consultant at the Bank for International Settlements' (BIS) Innovation Hub, and Chief Fintech Advisor to the President of the Hellenic Competition Commission, Greece’s competition and markets authority. He studied economics at the University of Patras, Department of Economics and holds an MSc and PhD from the London School of Economics, Department of Management. Before turning to academia, Markos worked for multinational companies in the technology and financial services sector such as Hewlett Packard Inc. and UBS Investment Bank in Greece, Spain and the UK.
