Recent Executive Moves in Banking & Financial Services – MENA

Contact RRA consultant | Kanu Rajguru

Appointments News

• AL RAYAN BANK in the UK has appointed Phillip Trevett as its new Chief Risk Officer. Philip has over 20 years of risk management experience and joins the Bank from Hoare & Co. and will be a key member of the executive team. Philip’s appointment is the latest addition to the Bank’s leadership team, following the appointment of Giles Cunningham as CEO in September and Michael Williams as Chairman in July of last year.  
  
  
• BARCLAYS announced that Pushkaraj (Push) Gumaste will become Head of Corporate Banking, Asia Pacific and Middle East. Based in Singapore, he will jointly report to Phil Bowkley, Head of International Corporate Banking and Jaideep Khanna, Head of Barclays, Asia Pacific. He has close to 30 years of corporate and investment banking experience and joined Barclays in 2004. Push relocates from London where he has been Head of International Corporates since 2018, and was previously Co-Head of Banking and Head of Corporate Banking in India. Prior to Barclays, Push held various roles at Citibank, Credit Lyonnais and ANZ.
  
  
• BANQUE SAUDI FRANSI has hired Richard Hinchley as Deputy Chief Risk Officer. Richard is a seasoned and experienced Chief Risk Officer with over 25 years’ experience in international banking in the UK, USA, Latin America, Asia and 10+ years in the Middle East, including seven years as Chief Risk Officer. He was previously with SABB as Chief Risk Officer and latterly an Advisor leading the risk due diligence and managed the risk integration of the merger between SABB and Alawwal Bank. Richard was also been a Non-Executive Director, and Chair of the Board Risk Committee at SABB Takaful, a listed insurance company. In addition he has been a Member of the Board Risk committee and Company Secretary at HSBC Saudi Arabia as well as previously CRO.
  
  
• DEUTSCHE BANK has hired Jamal Abi-Chahine along with Client Advisors Toufic Rizkallah and Giulio Ferri for their Private Banking offshore desk in Geneva, effective 1st March. The team joins from Credit Suisse.  Abi-Chahine, who is a Managing Director, has over 30 years of experience in the profession and specializes in UHNW clients from the Middle East, particularly. He will report to Ahmed Hammouda.  In addition, the team will be in contact with the Saudi Arabian onshore team led by Bassel Zaouk. 
  
  
• INVEST BANK has appointed Ahmad Abu Eideh as its new Chief Executive Officer.  Ahmad, a corporate and investment banker with three decades of experience was previously the CEO of United Arab Bank and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank in Jordan as well as having held roles with ABN AMRO and HSBC. He has been appointed to establish a “new growth phase” and “execute the strategic plan” of the bank.
  
  
• HSBC has appointed Nabeel Albloushi as Head of Markets and Securities Services for the UAE. Nabeel takes on the expanded role in addition to his current role as Head of MSS Corporate Sales for MENAT, based in Dubai.  A senior banker who has held leadership roles across HSBC’s wholesale banking business, Nabeel’s expertise and deep relationships with local regulators and exchanges, combined with the bank’s international footprint, will help connect corporate and institutional clients to a global network of capital and capabilities, opening up access to markets in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
  
  
• INVESTCORP announced the appointment of Mark Mobius as an Advisor to its India business. As a founding partner of Mobius Capital Partners LLP and formerly the Head of Emerging Markets at Franklin Templeton, Mr. Mobius has spent over 40 years working and investing in emerging and frontier markets and has been in charge of actively managed funds totalling over US $50 billion in assets. Prior to establishing Mobius Capital Partners LLP, Mr. Mobius was with Franklin Templeton for over 30 years. During his tenure, the group expanded its assets under management from US $100 million to over US $40 billion and launched several emerging market and frontier funds focusing on Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe.
  
  
• KPMG BAHRAIN has appointed Nicolas Ribollet as the new Head of Deal Advisory. Over the course of a 25+ year career, Mr Ribollet has held numerous leadership roles and has covered M&A, due diligence and corporate finance. He joins KPMG from the Mazars Group where he has worked across a global network with a specific focus on the EMEA and Asia regions in terms of business development and practice management, serving the full spectrum of clients across a wide array of industries. He has also previously worked with PwC in the UK.
  
  
• NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE FUND, part of the National Development Fund in Saudi Arabia has hired Esmail Alsallom as Chief Executive Officer. Esmail was previously the Group CEO of Alrajhi Holding Group for over 7.5 years. Prior to this he spent almost nine years with Banque Saudi Fransi, latterly as Assistant Group General Manager - Head Corporate Finance. Esmail has also held several board positions including currently at ACWA Power. 
  
  
• NETWORK INTERNATIONAL has appointed Navneet Dave as Regional Managing Director – Processing – GCC (excluding KSA). Navneet will be responsible for managing and growing new and existing Financial Institution and Fintech relationships and product development roadmap. Navneet has over three decades in retail banking with expertise in cards, payments, partnerships, unsecured loans, digital, sales and distribution. Most recently, he was SVP, Market Development, MENA at Mastercard. Prior to this Navneet led the Cards and Payment businesses for National Bank of Abu Dhabi (Now FAB), Mashreq and Standard Chartered Bank - GCC as well as Indonesia. The firm also made Abhinav Nehra the Managing Director for East Africa based in Kenya. He was previously their EVP and Head of Partnerships & New business for North & Sub Saharan Africa for seven months. 
  
  
• SHUAA CAPITAL has hired Robert Lunday as Head of Fixed Income Sales. Robert relocates from Texas, USA where he was the Co-Founder of LW Ranch Enterprises. Before this he spent 9.5 years with Arqaam Capital in Dubai as Executive Director, EM Fixed Income Sales & Trading. He has previously held roles with Levant Capital, Emirates NBD Capital and Standard Chartered in the Middle East.
  
  
• SICO in Bahrain has expanded its Board of Directors to ten members from nine with the appointment of Shaikh Waleed Khamis Al Hashar, CEO of Bank Muscat as Non-Independent Executive Director. Bank Muscat owns a 10.38% stake in SICO who previously acquired a majority stake in the Saudi-based Muscat Capital which has since been rebranded as SICO Capital. Shaikh Waleed Al Hashar has been CEO of Bank Muscat since 2019 and has over 28 years of experience in the banking, oil and gas sectors.
  
  
• STANDARD CHARTERED BAHRAIN recently appointed three senior Bahraini women to leadership positions at the bank. Deena Al Hilli was appointed Head of Legal for Bahrain and the Middle East, where she will be responsible for the legal coverage of the bank's operations in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and Lebanon. Al Hilli held leadership positions including Head of Legal Bahrain and Iraq and Assistant Vice President, Legal at Citibank. Aseya Galadari as Country Head of Audit for Bahrain. Galadari held various senior positions at Ernst & Young, the Central Bank of Bahrain, the International Monetary Fund, the Arab Monetary Fund and other regional and international financial institutions Sara Abdulrahman was named Head of Supply Chain Management for Bahrain.
  
  
• THE SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK (SAIB) has elected both Abdullah S. Jum'ah as Chairman of the Board and Abdulaziz Al Khamis as Vice Chairman with effect from the 14th February 2022 and will continue for three years.

Regional Markets News

• First Abu Dhabi Bank submits a non-binding offer for a majority stake in EGX-listed financial services institution EFG Hermes.
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• Brookfield to buy 60% of First Abu Dhabi Bank’s payment arm.
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• Standard Chartered to open its first branch in Egypt later this year.
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• Saudi sovereign fund PIF opens London, NY and Hong Kong offices.
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• MENA's booming M&A market on the brink of $100 billion.
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• Citigroup is hiring across Gulf, awaits another record IPO year.
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• Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait headed towards further growth in DIFC with license upgrade.
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• Egypt names 6 banks for its first $2bn Islamic bonds.
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• 'Wio' a next-generation banking platform to launch in Abu Dhabi by ADQ, Alpha Dhabi, Etisalat and FAB.
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• UAE digital bank Zand wins backing from Aditya Birla Group and Franklin Templeton.
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• Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund backs new digital bank called D360.
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• Kuwait's Central Bank Sets Regs for Digital Banks.
  Read more

Contact

Contact RRA consultant | Kanu Rajguru

Kanu Rajguru
Kanu Rajguru oversees Banking & Financial Services for Middle East & Africa and is a member of the global financial services practice. He has over 25 years executive search and recruitment experience and has completed searches in over 35 countries including for the past 14+ years across the Middle East & Africa.
Mobile: +971 50 845 2830
kanu.rajguru@russellreynolds.com
www.linkedin.com/in/kanurajguru/

Burak Gorbon
Based in our Dubai office, Burak Gorbon is a member of the Middle East leadership team and also heads the firm’s Turkey operations. He advises regional and global clients on their leadership teams and boards. Burak’s focus is on recruiting CEOs, other C-level executives and non-executive directors. He is a trusted advisor to a wide range of  Banks, and other  financial institutions.
Mobile: +971 52 646 5256
Burak.gorbon@russellreynolds.com
www.linkedin.com/in/burakgorbon

Nic Cutts
Nic Cutts is a senior member of the firm’s global Leadership & Succession Practice and Head of Financial Services Advisory Services for Russell Reynolds EMEA. He is a (UK) Chartered Psychologist with over 20 years international consulting experience, having assessed and coached many C-level executives. He has led several large scale M&A and transformation initiatives in the financial services sector, where his consulting services have focused on individual, team and organization-wide initiatives.
Mobile: +971 55 560 9820
Nic.cutts@russellreynolds.com
www.linkedin.com/in/niccutts/