Professor Alper Kara
Professor of Banking and Finance

Membership and affiliation

Research outputs and reports I co-authored with colleagues has been cited and mentioned widely in important policy making institutions in the UK around the globe.  

• Short Debate: The pawfect place to call home—Providing safe accommodation for pets in Wales, Senedd Cymru Welsh Government, 2024
• Effectiveness of EU CRA regulations in curbing rating shopping and catering in the securitisation market, SUERF Policy Brief, 2024
• Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment of the Rented Sector Reforms, Scottish Government, 2024
• The Financial Impact Pet Ownership Rental Properties , Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, 2024
• Lets with pets: What you need to know, National Residential Landlords Association, 2024 
• The EU securitisation market - Publications Office of the EU, European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), 2023. 
• Monitoring systemic risks in the EU securitisation market: July 2022, European Systemic Risk Board, 2022. 
• Housing Needs of Minority Ethnic Groups: Evidence Review, The Scottish Government , 2021.​ 
• Building inclusive access to financial services for people from minority ethnic groups, Fair 4 All Finance Foundation, 2023. 
• Global economic prospects: slow growth, policy challenges, World Bank, 2020. 
• Global financial development report 2015/2016: long-term finance, World Bank, 2015.
• Implementation of the Strategy for Indigenous Development: Lessons from the portfolio review, Inter-American Development Bank, 2012.
• Policy Guidebook for SME Development in Asia and the Pacific, United Nations, 2012. 

Other policy making institutions where our work cited in research outputs include European Systemic Risk Board, European Union, United Nations, Statistics Canada - Government of Canada, Bank of Finland, International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank, Bank of International Settlements, European Investment Bank, Development Bank of Latin America and The Caribbean, Iraq Ministry of Finance, Deutsche Bundesbank, Banco Central do Brasil, Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, The Ministry of Economic Affairs Industry Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Banca D'Italia, Government of Norway - Ministry of Finance, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. 

See more details on Alper's Sage Policy Profile page

Media interests

Banking (all areas), household mortgages and debt, and financial inclusion of ethic minorities.

Articles I have written for the media outlet The Conversation (read over 320,000 times):

• UK interest rates cut – here’s the outlook for property owners and home buyers after the budget, The Conversation, 07.11.2024
• Millions benefited from mortgages fixed at low prices – now many are struggling with much higher monthly payments, The Conversation, 09.07.2024
• Jeremy Hunt is probably right to oppose the finance watchdog’s plans to name and shame firms under investigation, The Conversation, 03.05.2024
• Buying your first home? Here’s how to increase your chances of getting a mortgage, The Conversation, 14.03.2024
• Budget 2024: experts explain what it means for taxpayers, businesses, borrowers and the NHS, The Conversation, 06.03.2024
• UK banks are reporting huge profits – but there are many reasons why this may not last, The Conversation, 29.02.2024
• Mortgage rates are falling but borrowers are still feeling the squeeze – a finance expert explains how to cut your repayments, The Conversation, 03.01.2024
• Bank CEOs set the tone from the top when it comes to risky behaviour — new research, The Conversation, 12.10.2023
• Bankruptcy is spiking among UK borrowers – but there are debt relief options if you are struggling financially, The Conversation, 20.09.2023
• House prices are falling, but that doesn’t mean you should buy now – here’s what first-time buyers should consider, The Conversation, 23.06.2023
• Mortgage lenders are relaxing their rules – here’s why that could be risky for borrowers, The Conversation, 17.05.2023
• ​Why mortgage rates will not return to recent lows any time soon, The Conversation, 23.03.2023
• ​Five ways to reduce your mortgage repayments in 2023 – and why rates have risen so high, The Conversation, 16.01.2023
• Bankers bonus cap: why scrapping it could hurt the UK economy, The Conversation, 20.09.2022
• Securitisation – the complex financial product that fuelled the financial crisis is making a comeback, The Conversation, 15.09.2018 
• How ethnic minorities face higher levels of financial exclusion, The Conversation, 06.03.2017
• Not all emerging markets are in the same QE boat, The Conversation, 23.09.2013

Media commentary:

• Mortgage rates to stay higher thanks to Reeves and Trump, inews, 9.11.2024 (Front page)
• Britain's biggest student debts: How single graduate racked up a £230,000 bill... but will the loans ever actually be repaid?, Daily Mail, 22.03.2024
• Do Virgin Money and Tesco Bank deals signal end of the road for the original challenger banks? This is Money - Daily Mail, 14.03.2024
• Does Metro Bank signal wider issues in the challenger bank model? Financial Times, 01.11.2023
• Anxieties and regrets of a first-time house buyer,  hyphen, 5.12.2022
• Two-Man London Firm Scoops Up Russia Work Dumped by Big Banks, Bloomberg, 16.09.2022
• 20 years on, how seeds of the credit crunch were planted in Halifax, Yorkshire Post, 31.12.2020
• ​NatWest plans to increase BAME presence at highest levels,  Deutsche Welle, 22.10.2020
• Financially excluded households include a high number of ethnic minorities, Yorkshire Post, 17.08.2013
• Bank lending blow for businesses, Yorkshire Post, 21.06.2013
• Warning bank levy could lead to job losses, Yorkshire Post, 21.10.2010

Media mentions:

• Credit rating agency failures continue despite EU reforms, paper finds, centralbanking.com, 16.05.2024
• Fight against rating inflation only partly successful – ECB study, centralbanking.com, 26.03.2024
• Pet-owning tenants ‘cause less damage than non-owners', LandlordTODAY, 08/03/2024
• The behaviour of reputable banks in the pre-crisis boom, Expansión (in Spanish), 26.02.2019
• Securitisation's imminent return, Dhaka Tribune, 18.09.2018
• Securitisation, credit risk and lending standards revisited, European Central Bank Research Bulletin, 30.03.2017
• Financially excluded households include a high number of ethnic minorities, Yorkshire Post, 17.08.2013
• Are our banks racist?, Moneywise, 30.07.2013