Then he transferred to Yapı ve Kredi Bankası to become its general manager, a much larger bank in Turkey acquired that year by the same friend.
[citation needed] Over the next few years, he invested in high-demand industries such as real estate, energy and retail, building condominiums and shopping centers across the main domestic business districts.
Furthermore, Özyeğin signed a franchising contract with the British retail chain Marks & Spencer, and then purchased also the Sakura Bank.
In 2005, Özyeğin sold the supermarket chain named GIMA to Sabancı Holding, and acquired in exchange the five-star hotel Swissotel in Istanbul from its Japanese owners.
At the end of 2008, Credit Europe Bank N.V. employed over 6,000 professionals working in the euro-zone countries Belgium, Germany, Malta and the Netherlands as well as in China, Dubai, Russia, Romania, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine, serving more than 3 million customers worldwide.
In an interview for the Creating Emerging Markets project at the Harvard Business School, he describes his commitment to expanding education opportunities for women.