2023 Speakers

Jamal Saleh

Jamal Saleh joined UBF (UAE Banks Federation) in July 2018 and became UBF's Director General on 1st January 2019. Prior to joining UBF, his last role was Head of Credit & Risk and Acting Regional Chief Risk Officer with a leading GCC bank.
Jamal Saleh spent 29 years in banking (Conventional and Islamic) and covered Credit and Enterprise Risk Management (Credit, Market, Operational, Liquidity, and IT Risks).
His first 10 years were in the USA (in Private Banking and Credit) and the last 19 were in the UAE in Corporate Banking, Credit, and Risk Management with three leading UAE banks.
He served as PRMIA's UAE Director General for 7 years (2007-2014) and was concurrently Member on British University's Advisory Board.
Jamal Saleh graduated valedictorian, summa cum laude, from New Jersey (USA) in Finance and Banking, and held 6 professional certifications in credit, finance, investment, and risk management.
He was a frequent TV quest on local and international business channels and newspapers, as well as a key speaker at tens of regional and international forums in UAE, MENA, Singapore, Europe, USA, etc., including 11 years at the renowned RiskMinds of Geneva/Amsterdam from 2006-2016, and the Commonwealth of Nations at Westminster Palace's Central Hall in London.

Shaker Zainal

Shaker Zainal the Chief mSME Officer of Emirates Development Bank. He is responsible for aligning EDB’s products and services with its vision of becoming UAE’s key financial engine for economic development and industrial advancement. Shaker oversees EDB’s offering to entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, such as tailored financing and digital banking products, as well as non-financial support including education and advisory services around advancing innovation, generating in-country value, financial literacy, and creditworthiness.
Shaker brings with him over 24 years of banking experience in the areas of operations, retail banking, SME and commercial banking and previously held positions at CBl, Mashreq Bank, and HSBC. He also serves as a banking and accounting expert to the UAE Ministry of Justice and the courts in UAE.
Shaker holds an executive MBA from HULT International Business School in Boston, USA, and a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the UAE University.

Ahmad Abu Eideh

Ahmad Mohamed Abu Eideh, Chief Executive Officer at Invest Bank P.S.C..

A financial services veteran with 31 years of experience in leadership roles in the banking industry.

In the course of his tenure in the banking industry, Mr. Abu Eideh has a wealth of local, regional and international experience, especially in Corporate/Investment Banking. In addition to corporate turnarounds and digital transformation.

Previously, Mr. Abu Eideh was Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank Middle East (Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon) and held other senior positions in several banks including, HSBC and ABN AMRO. His last role before joining Invest Bank was the CEO for United Arab Bank.

Mr. Abu Eideh earned a Bachelor degree in Economics and minor degree in Finance and Banking from Yarmouk University in Jordan.

Srinivasan Sampath

Srinivasan Sampath is the Acting Chief Technology Officer at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). Sampath has the responsibility for driving the Group’s Technology and Transformation Strategy to ensure that FAB is ready for the next generation of Digital Banking services. Sampath has more than 25+ years of experience in the banking industry. He has delivered several large integration programs in multiple regions. Specialized n creating business value, employee engagement and strengthening business relationships. In the recent years, Sampath has also been involved in leading digitization programs covering end to end digital customer experience and process automation. He was also involved in implementing the first cross border blockchain remittance transaction between two major banks. Sampath has been a chairperson and member of several advisory boards. Sampath holds ACIB from institute of Financial Services (UK) and BSC (Hons) from Manchester University (UK).

Soumaya Hissoussi

Soumaya Hissoussi is a Senior Vice President and Private Banker for Lombard Odier & Cie, based in
the Abu Dhabi Branch in the United Arab Emirates.
After finishing her Masters degree in international business at California State University, Soumaya
became a Managing Partner at a Beverly Hills-based consultancy. She then moved to Geneva,
Switzerland with Falcon Private Bank, where her role allowed her to build specialist expertise and
connections in the Middle East. During this time, Soumaya gained an Executive MBA in asset
management from the University of Geneva.
Soumaya has been at Lombard Odier since 2014, and has been dedicated to building trusted
relationships with key clients in the UAE and in Kuwait. She was shortlisted in 2015 as a Rising Star in
the GCC region wealth management sector by industry magazine WealthBriefing.

Vikram Sandhu

Vik is a Business & Digital Transformation Executive having worked with leading financial institutions in multiple countries across North America and Asia.

He is an expert in Digital Banking, Organizational Value creation, Technology & Operations Strategy, Digital Transformation & Innovation, Lean Six Sigma, Agile Delivery and Intelligent Automation.

Currently with Emirates NBD, he moved to Dubai from Canada in 2019 and has been helping lead ENBD’s Digital Transformation efforts.

Dongjun Choi

DONGJUN (DJ) CHOI joined RAKBANK in March of 2022 as Chief Customer Officer and is leading the Customer & Strategic Analytics function, which includes Group Strategy, Brand & Marketing, Center of Excellence (CoE) for Advanced Analytics, and Service Excellence (including customer complaints) Units.
DJ has a diverse portfolio of experiences across financial services, digital transformation, advanced analytics, marketing, and strategy. In his 25+ years of international experience, DJ has managed teams in Asia-Pacific, Greater China, UK, Middle East and Africa, and the US. He joins us from AXA Asia where he was the Chief Strategy and Customer Officer and was instrumental in driving strategy, industry-first products portfolio, and digital & data transformation. In his previous roles, DJ has held executive positions of MD Strategic Analytics CoE at Barclays UK, Chief Marketing Officer for International Markets at Cigna Corporation, and senior executive positions at Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Sean Langton

Sean in an experienced CIO and CTO, with 25 years’ experience in the Financial Services Technology sector in Retail, Commercial and Investment Banking in UK (ING, Prudential), Australia (CBA, Bankwest) and UAE (ADCB), and globally with Transit Payments technology provider servicing major cities in Europe, APAC and North America (Vix). He has delivered Digital Banking platforms, back office process transformations, organization-wide Agile implementations, and driven the shift to Cloud native technology stacks to drive speed and efficiency in Technology delivery.

Nidal Khalifeh

Founder of 5 tech startups with 17 years of experience in building software & hardware products sold in more than 40 countries.
Education: B. Com in MIS - McGill University | Master of Arts in Enterprise Management - Durham University | Master of Educational Technology - UBC | Harvard MEPLI Fellow & CAEL certified | Certified Technology Specialist - AVIXA.

Somnath Sarkar

Somnath Sarkar is EVP and Group-CISO at Mashreq, providing singular accountability for group level security and privacy programs in the bank. Somnath visualized the changing landscape of cyber-security and was instrumental in enabling disruptive technologies to grow in the evolving marketplace, introduced effective digital strategies, system designs and data to help Mashreq transform as a market leader. With deep expertise in managing Privacy including advising on compliance with GDPR and various Data protection laws across the globe, Somnath acts as a single point of contact for all data compliance across Mashreq. With more than 35 years' experience as an security professional and enterprise architecture, Somnath has a successful track record of establishing and implementing large scale IT and Security programs across the banking industry. 

Prior to joining Mashreq, Somnath has served in several banks as CIO and Technology head, where he drove transformation programs related to smart banking, cyber defense, enterprise mobility including setting up Data Centers and COEs. Somnath is a highly rated public speaker, frequently keynoting on cyber security and privacy related topics at large events including Cloud Summits, Fintech forums, and others.

Ayman Alqudsi

Ayman Alqudsi is an Influential and experienced IT Management Executive with 24+ years of achievement. Leveraging technology to drive organizational growth, performance, profitability, and leading IT, Innovation, and Digital Transformation initiatives in support of business strategies and objectives. Result-oriented, client-focused, process-driven, cost-conscious technology leader with proven success in creating and managing effective operations and teams.

Ayman joined United Arab Bank in 2018 as the Chief Information Officer and he is currently responsible for overseeing the entire IT management operation and the Bank’s Digital Transformation journey.

Previously, he was the EVP – Head of IT at FAB for about 2 years and before the merge at NBAD for 7 years headed the IT Infrastructure for the bank. Earlier to the UAE experience, Ayman worked in senior positions for about 10 years in the US at different business sectors from manufacturing with a Fortune 500 company to a Higher Education Institute, all within the IT field.

Bart Pietruszka

I am a data professional with over 10 years' of experience in the Middle East. As the Chief Data & Analytics Officer at HSBC, I lead a group of amazing people and am proud to be part of a dynamic team that helps to enable additional revenue and protect the bank from fraud.

My expertise includes data analysis and interpretation, and the development and implementation of automated solutions. I enjoy generating insights that help the business to make better informed decisions.

Abdelrahman Ahmed

Abdelrahman is the Chief Strategy Transformation Officer at anb Saudi, where he leads the bank’s strategic agenda definition and execution across Wholesale, Retail, Treasury, and Investment Banking. Prior to anb, Abdelrahman was Head of Group Strategy for a leading KSA bank and had a career in Strategy Consulting where he supported public and private sector clients on various topics.

Zsombor Brommer

Compliance and digital risk management professional with over 20 years of experience in global banking covering regulatory compliance, operational and enterprise risk management.
Enable and empower the Business, Compliance and Risk colleagues to embed globally consistent, effective compliance risk management and deliver fair customer outcomes. By applying sound risk management principles design, develop and manage compliance programmes. Risk steward, who advise and challenge the Business by providing independent and objective oversight on wide range of banking areas on their operation procedures, business practices in compliance with both external regulations and internal policies. Monitoring regulatory developments and ensuring adequate interpretation and implementation. Provide compliance support for transformation initiatives, ensure policies and procedures are fit for purpose, establish standards, devise high-impact strategies to mitigate compliance risk. Strategically manage regulatory and supervisory relationships, and audits.

Noman Rasheed

Noman Rasheed is a senior banker with over 24 years of experience in financial industry, transforming organizations through the means of Digital and Innovation.

He specializes in design and execution of result-oriented transformation strategies and orchestration of high performance organization cultures.

Prior to taking up the role of Chief Information Office @ Dubai Islamic Bank,  Noman was the Chief Information & Operations Officer @ Noor Bank, Dubai, managing its Operations and Technology Divisions. 

Noman also had a long inning with Barclays Bank in the region as Director ofInformation Technology and Operations, for MENA.

Kaushik Kadayam

Kaushik is the Wealth Management COO for Africa & Middle East with previous roles as an Operations CFO, Venture Capital Finance Lead as well as Chief Product Owner. In his most recent role, he is a champion for digital disruption across client journeys and has transformed the client experience for Wealth Management across the region. Kaushik has been working with Standard Chartered since 2016 where he first joined as an International Graduate in Corporate Banking, after graduating as a computer engineer from the National University of Singapore. He is a Chartered Management Accountant and a double degree MBA graduate from Kelley School of Business
(Indiana) and Manchester Business School.

Abbas Bou Diab

Abbas Bou Diab is an Executive Manager- Head of Compliance & AML at BLOM Bank Qatar LLC since November 2008, a bank licensed by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority and regulated by the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority.

Abbas has 35 years working experience, among which 9 years in one of the international audit firms, Deloiite & Touche-Lebanon, in addition to 26 years in the banking sector.

Abbas holds BBA Degree in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut (July 1987) and a Master Degree in Business Administration from the Lebanese American University (July 1997). Abbas is also a Certified Anti- Money Laundering Specialist since 2006 and a professional member of the ACAMS organization.

Abbas has attended many conferences, seminars, and workshops in Europe and the Middle East. He was a moderator at FINNOVEX Summit that took place in Doha-Qatar on March 15, 2022 (Artificial Intelligence as The Catalyst of Digital Payments in The Revolution Industry), a  speaker at Union of Arab Banks-(Compliance & Combating Financial Crime Conference-Doha, January 29-30,2020),  the ACAMS 7th Annual AML & Financial Crime Conference- MENA (Dubai, November 13-14, 2016), ACAMS,  3rd Annual AML & Financial Crime Conference- MENA (Dubai, January 20-21, 2013), MEED -Qatar Banking Summit (Doha, September 9-11, 2013), UNI Strategic (Global Anti-Fraud Conference-Dubai, October 7-8, 2013), Clyde & Co. -Compliance Connect (Doha, December 12, 2012), in addition to in house trainer for the Bank’s staff in compliance and AML issues.

Abbas was an editor and member of the Arabic CAMS Exam Task Force who assisted in ensuring the translation quality of the CAMS Guide from English into Arabic.

Abbas lives in Doha-Qatar.

Mehreen Zakaria

Current Role
Mehreen is the Cash Head, Treasury and Trade solutions for Citibank UAE, joining the bank a year ago.
In this role, she owns product development and innovation to maintain and deepen client relevance and is responsible for driving business strategy for continued growth and transformation of Citi UAE’s Payments and Receivables, Liquidity Management and Commercial Cards business
Brief Career History
Mehreen has 16 years of diversified, cross-industry experience.  Prior to Citi, Mehreen worked at Standard Chartered for 11 years, in various country and regional roles spanning Product management, Structured Solution Development and Sales. She has a notable track record of driving the innovation agenda and thought leadership, co-creating solutions to grow client’s businesses through technology adoption.,
She started her career in Telecommunications, where she spent 4 years in various Product and Project Management roles, before switching to Banking.
Education/other Background
Mehreen holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan.

Anand Krishnan

Anand Krishnan brings with him 25 years of IT experience, almost all of it in Banking and Financial Services. His experience include product development, software consultancy services and as a technology provider in financial institutions. His forte has been Private Wealth Management and Treasury though he has worked and led Retail and International banking technology units. From building ground up platforms in-house, to integrating and consolidating technology landscape across organizations, to helping businesses re-engineer and optimize processes through process automation and impactful analytics, Anand has facilitated wealth management transformation in banks in the middle east and southeast Asia across front, middle and back office.

Competencies include:

• Expertise in delivering large scale, transformation programs across multiple platforms and spanning geographies for leading banks.
• Treasury , Private and Wealth Management business and operational process in the Middle East and Asia Pacific covering order management, trade management, settlement, cash management, payments and messaging and reconciliation
• Core Banking implementations
• Lean and Agile practitioner
• Technology driven process re-engineering to drive operational efficiencies through robotic process automation
• Programs spanning geographies, large teams and multi-cultural environments.
• Strong technical and communication skills that foster positive and effective working relationships with the team, peers and stakeholders
• Right sourcing and right shoring

Mahmoud Ibrahim

Mahmoud is a distinguished banking professional with over 20 years of experience in UAE's banking industry. He has worked with three leading banks, including ADIB, Noor Islamic Bank, and Ajman Bank, in various capacities, such as Sales Management, Mortgages/Real estate, Cards, Personal loans, and recently, Global Transaction banking and Escrow, Wholesale Banking.  Mahmoud is currently is Head of Transaction Banking and Escrow

Mahmoud's passion for breaking records is infectious, and he believes that success is impossible without a great team. As a people-centric leader, He firmly believes in the power of teamwork and leadership.

Abhishek Pratap Singh

Abhishek Pratap Singh, an alumnus of King's college London is a seasoned Information Security and system Audit professional. With approx. one and a half decade of work experience with Banking, Finance and Insurance sector he evolved as a professional with in-depth business knowledge. He was honoured, as 'Cybersecurity Leader and influencer' in 2021, 2022 and 'Excellence' award by 'ISACA' in 2017. He is also founder and president of Oman 'Cloud Security Alliance Chapter'. With Go getter attitude he has proved his mettle in consulting, project and client relationship management. With proven leadership skills he successfully managed and delivered multiple projects in Cyber Security space such as Cloud Security Strategy, Risk management, Threat modelling, Security Architecture design review, Open Banking, Third Party risk management. He is also holding global certifications in Information security domain, to name a few CISSP, CCSP, CDPSE, CISA, CISM, CRISC, CEIH, TOGAF. He also holds certification in the space of Leadership from Harvard University.

Atul Chandorkar

Atul is an accomplished Data & Analytics leader with over 19 years of experience in the banking industry across the Middle East Region. Currently working as Head of Data Science at Qatar Islamic Bank, Atul is responsible for implementing data science and AI-based solutions across multiple functions of the bank aiming at increasing profitability and improving the customer experience.

Over the years, Atul has delivered multiple data science projects with quantifiable business outcomes which include personalized Product Recommendation systems, Geolocation Analytics, conversational AI systems, Supply chain Analytics, Customer behavioral micro-segmentations, Customer Lifetime Value, Customer attrition, and delinquency prediction.

Before joining QIB, Atul has also worked in the region in HSBC and First Abu Dhabi Bank. His last role was VP - Head of Analytics for First Abu Dhabi Bank before moving to Doha. Atul holds a Master in Data Science degree from the Liverpool John Moores University of London. He has also completed an Executive MBA from Bayes Business School, part of city university, London.

Ms. Mai Momani

Mai is an experienced CX leader & enthusiast responsible for designing & implementing cross-channel customer engagement strategies, launching relationship deepening programs and improving retention levels who has been at the forefront of helping organizations accelerate their transformation to a “customer obsessed” culture. Her forte lies in driving CX transformational change through human-centric delivery models, innovation and process re-engineering programmes.
She is currently the Head of Client Experience at Invest Bank, where she oversees the development & implementation of the bank’s enterprise wide CX strategy & framework across channels. She has also worked with organizations like United Arab Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank & Arab Bank. She also has a demonstrated history of building and managing highly engaged customer facing teams

Alex Bak

Head of Transformation, Customer Experience and Partnerships for CBI. A former Strategy consultant, I am responsible for formulating and delivering the enterprise level strategy of the bank, for creating and driving the customer experience improvement, the transformation agenda and forming innovative partnerships with a view to diversifying the bank’s offerings, target segments and market niches.

Wan Norhaziki Wan Abdul Halim

Wan Norhaziki is a Shariah finance professional bringing 17 years of experience with extensive exposure within a wide range of financial industries, from central banking, global standard-setting, applied research, to Islamic banking sectors in both Middle Eastern and Malaysian banks. He currently leads the global Shariah Governance Unit at Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CACIB) in Dubai. Prior to this, he was Vice President and Head of Shariah at Asian Finance Bank, Head of Shariah Risk Management at Bank Muamalat Malaysia, and Head of Shariah at the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB). Wan Norhaziki started his career with the Central Bank of Malaysia in 2007 and had been involved in the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC) initiative, prior to joining the International Shariah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA) as a researcher. A Certified Islamic Banker by CIBAFI, Wan Norhaziki holds an M.A. in Shariah, and LL.M. in Banking Law from the International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM), a B.A. in Politics and Islamic sciences from the IIUM, a B.A. in Shariah from Al-Madinah University, and a diploma in Islamic studies from Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Anand Sampath

Anand Sampath has more than 29 years of experience in a combination of leading National and Multi National Banks, handling multiple roles with Cash Management and Payments domain. As part of FAB’s Global Cash Product Management within GTB, Anand is Head of Global Payments & Collections.

He has been involved in various payments//industry shaping initiatives, Regional Cross Border payments roll outs with multi lateral agencies and involved with Central Banks on CBDCs.

Abhishek Saha

Senior payments and consumer marketing professional with 20 years+ of experience in building and strengthening businesses & brands; Specialization in payments, cards and loyalty programs, merchant acquisition with large local and MNC banks in the emerging markets of India and UAE.

Driven focused business strategies with strong emphasis for precision based execution; an analytical mind with hands-on approach. In-depth experience in major areas of retail banking with thorough knowledge of product & portfolio management, marketing, distribution, financial planning & control, portfolio valuations, operations and technology.

Presently as the Head of Cards business at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), I lead a multicultural team driving business profitability & growth of the payment cards product line across all customer segments. Previously in India, I was part of the cards business team of two large card issuing banks viz. HSBC and ICICI Bank. I began my career at Aptech Training, a leading IT education company. Here I learned franchisee management & frontline sales.

Gyan Prakash Srivastava

Technology leader in Big data & Analytics strategy , Data Governance with more than 19+ years of experience In banking & financial industry. Transforming Data into value & self-service analytics . Implemented enterprise scale Data and Analytics projects including Data Mesh, Data Fabric, across multiple geographies. I believe Data Mesh and Data Fabric would be new shift to Big Data world.

Dr. Jelena Janjusevic, SFHEA

Dr. Jelena Janjusevic is Associate Professor at Heriot-Watt University Dubai and Programme Director for MSc in Finance and Management.
She teaches both Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes in finance and economics. She has been a part of the University since 2017.  
In her 20-year-long working experience, Dr. Janjusevic has worked with - government of Montenegro officials, municipalities, social partners, foreign government officials, and international institution representatives – World Bank, IFC, EBRD, USAID, UNDP, CHF, EC, etc.  
Besides teaching, Dr. Janjusevic has strong managerial and research experience. She has previously been engaged with many different projects dealing with macroeconomics, sustainable development, and public administration capacity building (initiating a number of reforms in the energy sector, urban planning, financial, health, pension system,  education system, investments, business environment, and legislation improvement).  
Dr. Janjusevic spent nearly seven years working in the first think tank in Montenegro as a researcher and  analyst. Additionally, she has successfully organised and attended many conferences, seminars,  workshops, and press conferences. Furthermore, Jelena has a deep understanding of econometrics,  statistics, organising surveys, focus groups, trend analysis, and training, etc., preparing a number  macroeconomic, socioeconomic and financial analysis and papers.
Her areas of interest are - Quantitative Finance, Portfolio Selection, Sustainable Development, Sustainable  Finance, and Sustainable Tourism.  
Previously she used to teach at Montenegro Business School, and the University of Mediterranean in  Montenegro.

Haroon Durrani

Haroon Durrani is an accomplished financial services leader with over 17 years of experience in banking and tech firms under the Agile framework. He has newly joined as Head of Cards and Payment at Commercial Bank of Dubai. Previously, he headed  Business, Consumer Cards, Loans & Digital at First Abu Dhabi Bank for 2 years. Prior to this, he spent almost four years at Westpac banking group in Australia, delivering notable achievements such as the Instant Digital Card with Dynamic CVC/CVV and leading mobile payment delivery in payments strategy. Haroon's efforts earned him the Digital Banker Award in 2022 for "Best Use of Data & CX," with proposals to expand product offerings for mass & youth segments underway.

Dr. Ullas Rao

Dr. Ullas Rao is the Assistant Professor of Finance, School of Social Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, Dubai. He earned his doctorate in finance for his work on 'Posterior Analysis of Mergers & Acquisitions in International Financial Scenario during the Last Decade' from the University of Mysore, India, under the guidance of Dr. M. R. Suryanarayana Murthy (PhD Birmingham, UK).
With more than 12 years of teaching, consulting and research experience, Dr. Rao has made significant contributions in disseminating financial education through high-impact educational programmes for a wide audience of undergraduate, postgraduate, and management students.
He has also conducted a significant number of training and consulting programmes on finance for some leading Indian and multi-national corporations, which have been rated highly by their participants. In addition, to demonstrating strong organisational skills, he has conducted numerous high-impact and influential conferences and seminars on finance in India and the UAE.
Dr. Rao has published extensively in journals of international repute and presented papers at leading International conferences, including the 22nd Australasian Conference on Banking & Finance, held in Sydney, Australia, in 2009.

Rajeev Chalisgaonkar

Rajeev Chalisgaonkar joined Mashreq a year ago as the Executive Vice President, Head of Business Banking & NEOBiz. In his role, Rajeev manages the bank’s Business Banking segment and NEOBiz propositions, including defining go-to-market strategy and improving the overall delivery and experience for the business banking customers. As part of his responsibilities, Rajeev closely works with other business segments to capitalize on growth opportunities as well as help drive a strong value proposition through cross sell and strategic partnerships to further strengthen the Mashreq SME ecosystems and in turn enhance the offering for SME customers.

Rajeev has over 29 years of Corporate, SME and Retail Banking experience across Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa. He spent the previous 11 years with Standard Chartered Bank, heading Business Banking segment and products globally for last eight years. Previously he held leadership roles with Barclays in Dubai and India and with Citigroup in Central Europe. Rajeev has extensive SME Banking experience, especially in digital transformation of Business lending, development of new lending models based on alternative data, and forging partnerships with large data-driven partners for business expansion.

Rajeev is a metallurgical engineer and holds an MBA from IIM Calcutta in India.

Vickram Lal

18+ years of experience in financial service sector with proven track record of success in complex, fast-paced digital environment

Specialization in P&L Management and Business Transformation including strategy formulation and execution.

Focused on creation of next-generation banking services that re-define customer experience around simplicity and transparency.

In current role as Vice President – Investments,  he is responsible for redefining and leading the development of next generation of digital experiences for Wealth Management clients. Leading the digitization of client journeys and modernization of technology platforms.

Dr. Zakiya Abdul Samad

Dr. Zakiya Abdul Samad is an Assistant Professor at Heriot Watt University. With over 25 years of experience teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Finance, Economics, and Accounting, Dr. Zakiya is a highly accomplished professional in her field. Having completed her PhD in International Finance in 2019, she brings a deep understanding of the subject matter. Currently focusing on teaching courses in Fintech, Banking, Economics, and Personal Finance, Dr. Zakiya is committed to creating a learning environment that engages students in critical thinking, problem-solving, and hands-on experiences. Her pedagogical approach prioritizes active learning, fostering intellectual curiosity and empowering students to become lifelong learners. Additionally, she is an experienced researcher with expertise in risk management, sustainability, and Islamic finance. Dr. Zakiya regularly conducts Executive Education programs in Islamic Finance and has published papers in this area. She is not only a dedicated educator but also a qualified career coach, training professionals and executives while being a lifelong learner herself.

Tomasz Bortnik

Tomasz Bortnik heads the Wealth Management Product Department for the bank, based out of Dubai, UAE and has working in Citibank UAE since 2014 and Citibank EMEA (London) since 2005.
Prior to his current role, Tomasz was Citi EMEA Regional Manager of Equity and Fixed Income Product as well as led securities backed lending proposition, based in London UK
Prior to taking on this role, Tomasz headed Citi EMEA’s Regional Investments Sales Advisory function, based in London, UK.
Tomasz also has consulting experience from a 5-year stint with Consulting company, Accenture Germany, and earlier Accenture Poland.
He specializes in Wealth Management Solutions, Products, Processes and Technology and has experience with x-country engagements, implementations and has multi year experience in the management of liability (have money side), FX, Securities Backed Lending, Investments and Insurance.
Tomasz has a Master’s degree in Finance and Banking from the Warsaw School of Economics. He also studied in Germany. Tomasz is accredited by the UAE Securities & Commodities Authority.

Eli Taranto

Eli Taranto serves as Executive Director at EQITrade, of which EQIBank – the world’s leading crypto-friendly digital bank is a part of.

Previously, Eli was Chief Marketing Officer of Altair Capital  ($750M AUM) and COO of the Token Space Blockchain Accelerator. Prior to that he managed Operations at a $2bn Singapore family office. In London, Eli was the managing partner of Magnum Group, leading communications strategies for major financial and retail clients. He served as Advisor to Cointelegraph, 0byte, Crypterium, as well as other leading providers in the blockchain and traditional space. He holds a BA from King’s College London.

Noman Chaudhry

With over a decade of professional experience in financial crime compliance, Noman has held a multitude of advisory and training positions within regionally-renowned financial institutions including Emirates NBD and Sharjah Islamic Bank. He has dedicated himself and his career to combating financial crime and trade-based money laundering, through being a CGSS and CAMS-certified expert, having a comprehensive understanding of FATF, EU and other regulatory and supervisory agencies' international best practices as well as UAE AML legislation. Moreover, He is an experienced trainer who utilizes technology and innovation to deliver effective training instruction.

Mohamed Nazih Rashad

Mohamed Rashad is the Head of Trade Product at Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB).

Prior to joining ADIB, Mohamed Rashad worked as Group Head Trade Finance Operations at NBAD, Division Head at Arab Trade Financing Program, Head Trade Finance at AlMasraf, Acting Head Trade Sales at National Commercial Bank NCB, Disbursement Officer (In-Charge of Credit & Loans Admin.) in Islamic Development bank and Branch Manager in Egyptian American Bank. Having in total 34 years of banking experience in different areas such as Transaction Banking, Financial Institutions, Banking Operations, Credit & Loan Administration and Syndications.

Mohamed Rashad holds a Bachelor Degree in Accounting from Cairo University in 1989. And Certified as CDCS in 2004.

His professional interests focus around Trade Finance, transformation and the system implementation.

Imran Kannuti

Spent 25+ years in the Middle East Banking & Insurance firms, Imran is passionate about Digital Transformation and Technology Innovations and aims to serve  BFSI meeting their digital transformation objectives enabling digital disruption,  leveraging innovative technologies.

As a digital enthusiast,  Imran  speaks about Digital Strategy & Transformation, governance and digital enablers.  

Have led multi dollar program & project portfolios and delivered digital, strategic, business & technology initiatives for banking & insurance giants in KSA, Qatar & UAE.

Adnan Fasih

Adnan Fasih has over 30 years of banking career with a strong focus on Islamic finance for the last 15 years. Having sound understanding of an emerging & dynamic market segment with working experience, exposure & outreach in key Islamic Finance centers i.e. Pakistan, UAE, South Africa, UK & Switzerland. A successful track-record of setting-up this business line as a new franchise with distinct identity SIRAT and tapping new opportunities by developing synergies across geographies.

Adnan since 2012 has been in leadership role for establishing & upscaling Islamic Banking as a prominent business function with success within Habib Bank AG Zurich (a swiss Bank incorporated in 1967 with international presence in 10 countries) to tap new potentials for the group by leveraging on the network presence. Focusing on this fastest growing niche banking sector he understands the strong ties that keep the local business community humming and works closely with key stakeholders as subject matter expert in each jurisdiction to structure Shariah compliant products and offerings which are all inclusive, competitive and market driven. Thus bridging boundaries and building on commonalities for benefit of all communities.

He has been associated in past with other top tier banks where he has also held strategic and management position & gained invaluable experience institutions like Societe Generale-France, Emirates NBD- UAE, ANZ Grindlays - Australia & BCCI.

Adnan holds an MBA from University of Leicester (UK) is a Banking graduate with Corporate Banking program from DC Gardner London & Islamic Finance qualification from Dow Jones.

Bruno Ascencio Bautista

Heading the Data & Analytics Team at Wio Bank, the region’s first platform bank.
With over 10 years of experience on Analytics and Data Science practices, began my career in consulting as part of the applied intelligence team at Accenture, developing analytics and AI projects for different industries.
Later moved on to the Tech sector where I had the opportunity to work on great companies such as Uber, where I was part of the Regional Operations team for Latin America.
Most recently, I have been focusing on the Fintech and Banking sectors, where I have had the opportunity to be part of the founding team as Head of AI for Financial Products of the first fully digital bank in Mexico, Bineo. And now, building the whole Data Platform for Wio Bank, with an innovative architecture that will enable streaming events for analytics and ML.