In spring 2025, Ufuk Bali left Istanbul and its 15 million inhabitants to settle in Luxembourg, home to 140 thousand. For him, moving from Istanbul to Luxembourg meant discovering a wider professional world within a more compact financial centre.
The move from Istanbul to Luxembourg began with a phone call. After eight years as General Manager of Intesa Sanpaolo’s banking operation in Turkey, Ufuk Bali received a call from his boss asking whether he would be interested in becoming Chief Corporate Banking Officer at Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Luxembourg. He took up the role in May 2025, moving to a smaller city but a broader field of work. What surprised him was not the country’s size, but how little that size revealed about the financial activity concentrated within it.
“When Luxembourg emerged, I did not know the country in depth, but I knew enough about its importance in international finance to be curious,” he recalls. His familiarity came principally from project and acquisition finance, where Luxembourg holding structures were a recurring feature. Working here revealed the people, expertise and relationships behind those structures.
His responsibilities now span corporate and investment banking, from corporate lending and structured finance to fund finance, supply chain finance and liquidity solutions. The bank’s activities are primarily focused on Europe, while the Luxembourg platform also supports the Group’s broader international network through its specialist product, structuring and execution capabilities. For Bali, the move illustrates how a change of role can widen a career beyond what the title alone suggests.
Building a bank from scratch
Banking was a deliberate choice from the start. In the mid-1990s, Bali began studying business and economics with the clear intention of building a career in the sector. “I dreamed of becoming a banker before I dreamed of having an international career.” His early career provided a detailed grounding in financial analysis, accounting and the mechanics behind company balance sheets. Structured finance and project finance followed, bringing exposure to international counterparties and increasingly complex transactions. After around a decade at leading Turkish banks, he faced a different kind of challenge.
In 2013, Intesa Sanpaolo approached him. The Italian group wanted a solid presence in the Turkish market, which meant transforming its representative office into a fully licensed bank and building a corporate client portfolio from scratch. Within a few years, the team had grown from three people to around 35, and the portfolio had exceeded €3 billion. Bali became General Manager in 2017, leading the operation until his move to Luxembourg.
Turkey taught me resilience and speed; Luxembourg is deepening my international perspective.
Personal development plays an important part in shaping Bali’s professional path. Managing a bank in Turkey required constant adaptation. Market conditions, regulation and geopolitical developments could change from week to week, demanding adjustments in strategy and execution. The experience taught him to adapt fast, decide fast and stay resilient. “Turkey taught me resilience and speed; Luxembourg is deepening my international perspective. I moved from overseeing a bank serving principally one national market to leading activities involving multiple products, jurisdictions and client groups. If personal development is part of the motivation, Luxembourg has a great deal to offer,” he says.
Second chapter
A year and a half in, his professional view of his new environment fits into one sentence: “Luxembourg is not small; it is compact.” For Bali, the distinction is proximity. “That proximity fosters a depth of interaction that is often harder to achieve in major metropolitan centers. In Luxembourg, people meet frequently, exchange ideas and build relationships across institutions. These exchanges continually enrich the ecosystem.”
Luxembourg is not small; it is compact.
Proximity is only part of the explanation. Luxembourg’s international business attracts specialist expertise, which helps institutions meet complex client needs and develop new products. That international character extends well beyond the workplace. “I see it in my team, on the streets and in the restaurants, and my children see it at school too: people from very different cultures can all find their place.”
Bali’s wife and two sons joined him in August 2025. For the children, one of the most tangible benefits was time. In Istanbul, the journey to a school only a few kilometers away could absorb two hours of their day. In Luxembourg, they gained much of that time back.
People from very different cultures can all find their place.
The change has not meant an undemanding professional life. Bali describes a team that works intensely, yet operates within a calmer everyday environment. His observation about the evening commute captures the distinction: “There is traffic, but there is no rush.
Room to keep learning
For professionals considering Luxembourg, Bali’s advice is to assess more than compensation or geographical scale. The range of transactions, clients and specialist colleagues can offer opportunities for development that are not obvious from outside.
His own move came in his mid-forties, after an established career and eight years leading a banking operation. It was a chance to apply that experience in a different setting while continuing to develop it. “If a role enlarges your world, it can be the right move at any stage of your career.”
Luxembourg has given the family a different rhythm of life and Bali a wider professional perspective. The two discoveries inform the same advice to those looking at the country from afar: “The world is larger than what Google Maps shows you.”