3-4 September 2019
Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
3-4 September 2019
Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Bolocan is the Executive Director for Retail and Wealth Deposits and Consumer Segments at BBVA Compass. In this role he has overall responsibility consumer deposit products, fee services, deposit portfolio revenue, retail product marketing, sales force strategy, and relationship expansion across branch, online, mobile, and call center channels. Responsibilities include product design, pricing, marketing, technology prioritization, and consumer segments management.
Bolocan has more than 25 years of experience in Retail Banking and Management Consulting, with leadership posts at Bank of America, Chase and SunTrust. In his prior role as Head of Retail Banking Solutions at Argus Information he worked with 25 banks on deposit and payments strategies including benchmarking, fees, onboarding, customer segmentation, and program evaluation.
Bolocan is a graduate of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. His Masters Thesis reviewed the impact of Market Concentration on Deposit Pricing.
Johnson Poh has been a Data Scientist with experience spanning across the finance, consulting and government sectors for the past decade. His present and past professional appointments include being Executive Director & Head Enterprise Artificial Intelligence for UOB Group, Head Data Science/Practice Lead at DBS Bank, Chief Data Scientist, ASEAN at Booz Allen Hamilton as well as Principal Data Scientist at Ministry of Defence, Singapore respectively.
Johnson also serves as an Adjunct Faculty at Singapore Management University (SMU) where his focus areas include applied statistical computing, machine learning as well as big data tools and techniques. He completed his bachelor’s degree at University of California, Berkeley, majoring in the subjects of Pure Mathematics, Statistics and Economics. He received his postgraduate degree in Statistics at Yale University.
Stéphane Malrait is Managing Director and Global Head of market structure and innovation for Financial Markets at ING Bank. Stephane is responsible for following market structure and industry challenges impacting the financial market industry. He is leading innovation activities internal to ING and also external partnership and developments with Fintech companies. He actively contribute in industry working groups to represent ING Bank.
Stéphane joined ING in 2015 to lead the bank e-commerce initiatives across all financial market products and to develop on the financial market group’s cross-asset ecommerce strategy. Before joining ING, Stephane spent eight years at Société Générale, where he was Global Head of FIC eCommerce, creating an eCommerce business covering credit, rates, money market, emerging market and FX. Prior to this, Stéphane worked at JPMorgan Chase for ten years, serving in different roles in Global FX E-Commerce Business Management and cross-asset eCommerce technology and was based in London and New York.
Stephane has a strong background in financial markets and understands the need for continued technological development to drive positive change in trading and market structure workflows. He is leading ING Financial Market innovation strategy and also working on the implementation of financial regulations that will impact the clients trading activity and transform how the trading floor operates.
Stephane is also a board member for several Fintech market initiatives and trading associations. Since 2005 he has been active with the ACI Financial Market Association - an international non-profit organisation that represents the interests of market professionals in foreign exchange and money markets. Here, he has chaired the ACI FX committee, representing the views of professionals in the FX sector. He is also an active member of the ECB FX contact group working on the BIS Global FX code of conduct working groups.
Abhijit is an Artificial Intelligence Strategist and Business Integrator. He is bringing machine intelligence to life at the Lloyds Banking Group. His focus is on combining machine and human intelligence with data to fundamentally change the way the Bank does business and create new opportunities for customers and colleagues.
Earlier, at McKinsey & Company, Abhijit engaged with leaders from large enterprises to help them take strategic and investment decisions, build new digital business models, and drive above-market growth. Previously, at HCL Technologies, Abhijit built and led tech-enabled businesses in Europe and Asia. An engineer by training, Abhijit has an MBA from London Business School with exchange at MIT Sloan.
Vikram Krishna is the Executive Vice President, Head of Group Marketing & Customer Experience at Emirates NBD, with the mandate to position Emirates NBD as a leading banking brand, and enhance its customer experience capabilities. Krishna has successfully developed Emirates NBD into the No.1 banking brand in the UAE, with a brand value of USD 3.53 billion, in addition to making it one of the top 100 financial brands globally.
Krishna oversees the three areas of Marketing, Customer Experience and Customer Lifecycle Management at the Emirates NBD Group level, continuously devising and implementing innovative strategies across all channels, to ensure a customer-centric approach and further grow the bank’s dominant market position. Krishna has also significantly raised Emirates NBD’s presence in the social media space through the successful launch and management of the bank’s social media platforms.
During his tenure as Head of Group Marketing & Customer Experience, Emirates NBD has won several regional and international accolades, including recognition at Dubai Lynx, Effies MENA, Cannes and Midas, New York. Communicate magazine also listed Krishna in its Top 50 Power List for 2011 and 2012. Recognized for having raised the standard of marketing in the region, Krishna was named ‘GMR Marketer of the Year’ at the 2013 Effies MENA awards.
Prior to his current role, Krishna was instrumental in the profitable turnaround of Emirates NBD’s Personal and Auto Loan business. He has also held the posts of Senior VP, Marketing-Retail Assets in HSBC, India, and VP & Head of Mortgages for North India in CitiFinancial. Krishna, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Statistics and an MBA in marketing, began his career with the advertising firm Lowe before moving to the banking industry.
Ali Alomran is a technology and banking executive with over 25 years of achievements in technology, banking, and investment. He brings wide banking knowledge and a distinguished record in delivering enterprise banking solutions.
In 2004, Ali joined Arab National Bank (anb.com.sa) to lead designing and delivering IT solutions for all banking services. He is a member of several products and technology executive committees.
In 1993, he started career in Banque Saudi Fransi (alfransi.com.sa), where he worked in Retail, headed IT development, and led international brokerage.
Ali is regular speaker and advisor in regional finance and technology conferences.
Evans Munyuki is the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) for Emirates NBD, the leading banking group in the region. He is an experienced business leader with 24+ years of experience leading financial and technology organizations in listed companies across both mature and emerging markets.
Before joining Emirates NBD, Evans undertook multiple CDO, CIO and P&L business leadership roles across a combination of traditional financial and technology companies across American, European, and African markets. Evans was also recently CDO and CIO of a rapid growth, German-listed FinTech operating across 14 African and European markets. In addition to multiple certifications, he holds a Master’s Degree in Project Management, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science in Electronics Engineering.
Morteza is a seasoned COO/CIO, with over 30 years experience, who is passionate about driving business and digital transformation and execution excellence.
As a partner at M&L Technology Advisory, Morteza provides strategic advisory services to Senior Executives and Boards.
From his tenures as Global CIO at Lloyds Banking Group in UK and Global CIOO at Royal Bank of Canada, and his board/advisory engagements including IBM, Morteza has experience leading transformation for growth and has international expertise around financial services, customer segments and regulatory requirements.
Throughout his career, Morteza has executed innovative technology, operations and business/digital transformations, mergers and acquisition deals, supplier partnerships, architecture and operating model improvement initiatives that have improved client experience, market share and operating leverage.
As Group Chief Information Officer at Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), Morteza led a significant transformation programme of the Group’s IT organisation and systems to become more customer-focused, innovative and agile, while allowing change to be delivered more quickly andefficiently. He was responsible for ensuring that LBG’s 30 million retail and commercial customers met their banking needs on a 24/7 basis. He led a team of 17,000 permanent colleagues, contractors and offshore partners, with an annual budget of £2bn and a portfolio of over 3,000 applications.
Before joining Lloyds, Morteza was the Chief Information and Operations Officer at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) from 2009 to 2013. During this time, he successfully led a global technology and shared services operations team of 10,000 people with a budget of $2bn, as well as being a member of the Group Operating Committee.
Morteza is passionate about driving change, business transformation and leading people. His strengths lie in fostering collaboration, creating cohesion and increasing performance.He is also deeply committed to creating diverse organisations and was an executive member of both Lloyds’s and RBC’s Group Diversity Committees. Morteza has a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from McGill University and is qualified by the Institution of Corporate Directors.He lives in Toronto with his family.
Mr. Shino Thomas Philip serves as Head-PMO Transformation Group of National Bank of Oman and manages large-scale Transformation initiatives and technology strategy of the Bank . He has extensive experience in managing Digital Transformation, Operational excellence, Core Banking replacement and Information Security implementations. He has previously worked with major financial institutions in middle east like BankDhofar, Doha Bank and have more than 18 years of experience in Technology and Operations.
Mr. Hicks joined NBB in 2016 as the Chief Marketing Officer after more than 30 years of banking and marketing experience with Nat West, RBS and HSBC where he was part of the Global Marketing Team based in the London Head Office working across all business lines and geographies. His specialist areas are digital marketing, customer experience and digital transformation.
He leads the marketing and communications team responsible for developing the NBB brand and supporting the business’ goals through engaging marketing events and campaigns, targeted sponsorships and a sophisticated PR and communications strategy. He places customer insight and user experience at the heart of the Bank’s initiatives with a growing focus on digital channels. He is a long-standing member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He has a BA (Hons) degree in Economics from De Montfort University in UK.
Anthony is the leader and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for IBM's blockchain practice in Middle East and Africa. He is responsible for leading engagements with clients across the region and helping them to leverage distributed ledger technologies to transform their organisations, ecosystems and industries. He was previously the CTO for IBM Cloud in Middle East and Africa providing technical leadership across cloud, blockchain, and cognitive portfolios; and helping clients understand how emerging technologies can be used to unlock new forms of value. Prior to this, he held multiple global roles, including leading the global transformation of one of IBM's largest natural resources sector clients, consulting to a global payments provider on new forms of digital payment, and developing a set of services offerings around mobile payments.
He is a member of IBM's Academy of Technology, chair of MEA's patent development board, and was appointed as a Distinguished Engineer in recognition of sustained technical leadership across the IBM company and his contribution to blockchain and cloud technologies. He holds multiple patents in the fields of blockchain, mobile payments, artificial intelligence, and security; and holds a Masters of Engineering from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with a thesis on the application of artificial intelligence to complex scheduling problems.
Khaled Bou Antoun currently holds the position of General Manager - Canon Emirates, the direct operation of Canon Middle East, since August 2017, to oversee Canon’s direct operations in the UAE.
Bou Antoun leads the Canon Emirates team to achieve the long-term business growth for Canon Emirates and consolidate and reinforce Canon’s leading position in the country through an integrated structure. Throughout his career, he successfully executed sales plans as well as acquiring and developing new business accounts. Bou Antoun also continuously increased market share for his division in terms of value and volume, and supervised operations, sales and account management teams.
He previously held the position of Sales and Managed Print Services (MPS) Manager since 2012 until early 2017 when he was made Deputy GM at Canon Emirates.
Bou Antoun started his career in sales in Saudi Arabia within the imaging and printing industry where he gained extensive experience in the full business cycle, including the financial, marketing and recruitments aspects. He is a graduate of Notre Dame University in Beirut, Lebanon, with a Bachelor in Business Administration.
Alex Twigg is currently the Chief Information Officer at Judo Bank. He played a key role in guiding Judo Bank to become the first SME focused neo-bank in Australia. Alex is a global pioneer in the banking sector with over 20 years of experience. He was responsible for establishing some of the biggest startups in the world – first with egg.com in the UK, then with UBank.
Julia leads the business consulting team responsible for expansion of Trade Finance and Factoring products on different markets. Since she joined Comarch in 2014 she managed successful deployment of banking products across the world, helping her customers through digital transformations.
Julia holds degrees in University of Economics in Katowice (Computer science and econometrics) and University of Wrocław (French philology).
For more than 20 years, Daragh O’Byrne has been helping financial institutions get the maximum return on their investments in mission critical Information Technology systems. At Nucleus Software, he is the Vice President and Global Head of Marketing & Alliances where he is responsible for driving business transformation through integrated and strategic marketing initiatives. Prior to joining Nucleus Software, Mr. O’Byrne held range of senior management positions in leading technology companies such as Misys and BPC Banking Technologies. His industry experience and in-depth understanding of technology drives his passion to ensure that value is delivered for customers.
Daragh’s key focus area has been ensuring that software provides tangible business benefits for customers and that these benefits are explained in a clear, concise and compelling way. His industry experience and in-depth understanding of technology drives his passion to ensure that value is delivered to customers.
Sanjeev is currently the Group CIO of the largest bank in the UAE, First Abu Dhabi Bank. His global career spans 20 years across consulting, technology transformation, technology operations and leadership. Sanjeev is a people focused leader who values strong organizational culture to drive performance. He was responsible for establishing and growing the Technology Department in FAB. Among his recent career highlights Sanjeev successfully lead the region’s largest banking technology and operations integration program. In parallel he and his team implemented leading customer finance solutions, ranging from new mobile and digital wallet propositions to cutting edge corporate banking platforms. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, an MBA and Insead Leadership qualification.
Ilker Tasdemir is the Director of Business Development and Managing Partner at MDSap. With has over 20 years of experience in data science especially in advanced analytics, Ilker has rich experience helping customers in the Finance and Banking sector use their data in creating business value.
Ilker’s project customers include Saudi Credit Bureau, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Kuwait Finance House, Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Emirates NBD, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Habib Bank AG Zurich, SAMBA Financial Group, National Commercial Bank, Al Rajhi Bank, Akbank, Yapi Kredi Bank, Ziraat Bank, Halk Bank, ING Bank, Boubyan Bank, Union National Bank, Gazprom Bank as well as UAE Exchange.
Ilker Tasdemir has a Bachelor of Science graduate from Marmara University and has multiple technical certifications in Enterprise Information Management, Security and Enterprise Data Warehousing, Business Analytics as well as management Certificates from prominent institutions. He is married and currently resides in Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates.
Paweł works as a Project Manager but he's a detective at heart - his true vocation is fighting financial crime. He is a bearer of the ICA Certificate in Anti Money Laundering. Paweł has run a great deal of IT projects with NGOs and the Polish government. He's a natural-born skeptic.
Yousef is an experienced business leader with over 18 years of experience working with Regional and Global Financial Services Institutions in the Middle East. He is passionate about technology and his expertise are Digital Transformation, Enhancing Customer Experience, and Understanding Industry Business Models.
Saqib Khan advises financial institutions on how to make their digital ambitions a reality. Often they have many challenges, like existing legacy systems and silo-ed architectures. He helps them by designing digital transformation programs which are feasible, tailored, creative and have instant business value keeping customers at the centre.
Ross is a seasoned Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) & Cyber Security professional. He currently serves as the Head of Group Information Security for Ahli United Bank globally. At Ahli United, he provides the strategic framework and direction in Cyber Security & Technology Risk, providing robust security protection and management assurance.
Ross has over 19 years of specialized experience dedicated to leading financial institutions in security policy design, cyber security implementation and security transformation for large financial institutions.
In his previous role at Gulf International Bank, Ross was brought in to modernise and transform the group Information & Cyber Security function for the organisation across multiple international locations, as well as their retail online digital bank, meem.
Ross has worked in over 12 countries accelerating cybersecurity adoption and modernisation programmes and speaks two languages.
An industry Influencer, he has worked with more than 30 companies and 15 banks. He is consistently sought as one of the most influential CISO’s, throughout his industry and in thought leadership circles.
His accreditations include CISSP, CISA, CISM, CRISC and many more. He has been a guest speaker in Cyber Security at Glasgow University in the UK and also contributes to panels and conferences around the world, as well as runs private closed door peer forums for CISO’s in the middle east.
Ross has lived in Bahrain for 3 years. He is a fan of Latin music, an adrenaline enthusiast, and an avid reader and cyber protection measures researcher.
He escapes it all by retreating to his remote adventure spots, where he enjoys activities such as motorbike adventure touring, martial arts, desert driving and dirt biking.
Qasim Ilyas has been appointed as Strategic Sales Manager at Canon Emirates in August 2019. In his role, he is responsible for driving and implementing strategy through methodologies acquired in his 14 years of working with Canon United Kingdom. Qasim will be leading and driving the strategic and global accounts in the region.
Before joining Canon Emirates, he has been with Canon UK for over 14 years. He joined Canon UK in 2005 within the telesales and marketing team. In this role he managed a telesales team as well as organised and managed events. He then undertook many sales roles, which led him to become one of the most consistent and successful sales individuals having many awards and recognitions.
Qasim also represented all sales and support staff, worked with the senior board members to ensure processes procedures within the sales workflows were refined and improved.
With more than 15 years of work experience in the imaging and printing industry, Qasim has took on several roles including Marketing, Post Sales, Pre-Sales Analyst, Account Management, Consultant and Strategy.
Qasim has a Business Management Degree and is Prince 2 Qualified. He has also obtained a number of management and business process qualifications.
Alberto Diez is RAKBANK’s Chief Innovation Officer. He is responsible for managing the Bank’s digital transformation strategy and introducing a portfolio of bank-wide solutions and initiatives. Alberto’s current focus is on achieving synergies and value driven structure for the strategic technology driven solutions across all the diverse channels and key business areas of the Bank. In addition, he is currently leading the setup and execution of the RAKBANK innovation accelerator labs. With approximately 19 years of experience managing digital transformations across Europe, South Asia and the Middle East, Alberto held various senior positions at international and regional markets, with extensive experience in leading digital transformations within the financial industry. Prior to his financial industry focus, Alberto spearheaded two digital transformation start-ups covering consulting and professional services business throughout EMEA and APAC. Both start-ups were acquired by sector leaders, and both were accredited in the magic quadrants of Gartner.
Abboud heads Alteryx’ Middle East and Africa business. Joined Alteryx in 2014 to develop the markets outside UK and lead Alteryx’s expansion in France, Germany, Benelux and Nordics. He’s been involved in many projects within Enterprise and SMB type of businesses driving analytics culture and self-service BI implementations across various sectors and departments. Holds a MBA from Cranfield School of Management and has passion for solving business problems with new and innovative technologies.
Kolood Algofaily is an experienced executive with 15 years of experience in Retail Banking and Wealth Management. She holds a Master Degree in Business Administration from the University of Leicester, UK. She is currently the Regional Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management of Central Region at SABB Bank. She is heading a proficient team where she is responsible for strategically steering a network of 65 branches and further consolidating their positions as leading centers of Wealth and financial advisory in the central region of Saudi Arabia. Kolood has been part of several D&I initiatives led by the Bank focusing on women empowerment and financial inclusion.
Manuel is responsible for Digital Transformation of the FSS Industry in MEA. He owns the interaction directly with CXO’s of major banks in the region to discuss their digital roadmap and how IBM’s value proposition in digitalization, cognitive capabilities and Digital Studio can help them improve and evolve their digital strategy. Previously, Manuel was Director at Monitor Deloitte, responsible for the Emerging Technologies Practice. The Emerging Technologies Group, led by Manuel, provided strategic advice on Digitalization of businesses and operations, including as well, strategic advice on the adoption and implementation of digital technologies like Mobile Commerce & Payments, Social Media, Big Data and M2M, for multiple industries (Banking, Retail, Telecommunications, Public Sector). His responsibilities include the development of Strategic Alliances between Deloitte and leading ICT firms in the area of Emerging Technologies.
Manuel has been awarded Deloitte’s 2014 Igal Brigthman Prize for the most innovative and remarkable project worldwide in the area of emerging technologies. Previously he worked as Managing Director at Gartner Group (one of the most reputed Technology Analysts) with full responsibility of the Consulting practice for the several industries (specially Banking and Telecommunications) in Spain and Portugal. He started his professional career at Arthur Andersen (later on Deloitte) where he was Senior Manager within the Strategy Consulting Business Unit and member of Deloitte’s Global Innovation Group, working on both: Business Consulting Projects and Transaction Advisory Services (Mergers & Acquisitions).
Derek Corcoran is the Chief Experience Officer at Temenos, where he counsels banks, insurers, and wealth managers worldwide on improving results in digital multi-channel customer acquisition. Derek is a frequent industry speaker, whose presentations have been awarded Best of Show at two Finovate conferences.
Suresh holds a Masters in Business Administration from University of North Carolina Kenan Flagler Business School specializing in Entrepreneurship & Innovation. He has over 32 years of experience in the field of Information Technology of which last 22 years has been in the Banking industry. Suresh currently works for Bank Muscat as Head of IT Architecture & Strategy. His background includes vast and diverse experience in applying high-impact technology solutions to critical business objectives, yielding capabilities that transcend traditional IT operational boundaries. Suresh also has professional certifications in the areas of Project Management, Technology Architecture, Information Security, Risk Management and IT Governance.
Leen Al Atassi is the Head of Innovation at Oman Arab Bank. Leen is leading all internal innovation activities at OAB as well as external Fintech partnerships, to bring new solutions to the industry and facilitate the development of an innovation eco-system for entrepreneurship in Oman. Her mandate is to position OAB as the leading Innovative Bank in the Sultanate.
Leen joined OAB in September 2018 to lead the Bank’s innovation strategy and initiatives across all business lines and to foster a solid innovation culture along with a programme that will enable OAB to deliver a consistently superior customer experience. Since joining the Bank, she has introduced the bank’s first and the industry’s biggest innovation platform: ‘The Innovation Hub’ hackathon for students, Fintech companies and the Bank’s employees, with over 320 participants developing innovative prototypes over a 24-hour period. In addition to this, she has also introduced a first-of-its-kind Innovation Lab in Oman that will include a unique six-month internship programme for students that is specifically geared to accelerate innovation through collaboration.
With a career spanning over 13 years in the banking industry, and before joining OAB, Leen spent four years at National Bank of Oman, where she was Head of Corporate Communications, Change Management and CSR. Prior to this, Leen worked at HSBC Bank Oman for eight years, serving in different roles in Human Resources, Corporate Communications, Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility, where she spearheaded the communications strategy for the Bank prior to and during the merger and integration between Oman International Bank and HSBC Bank Middle East - Oman.
Leen has a strong background in corporate communications, brand development, cultural transformation and change management and understands the need for continued innovation in technology, people and process development to drive positive change within the organization.
Leen holds a Professional Certificate in Innovation and Strategy from the Harvard Extension School, an MBA from the University of Strathclyde, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Communications from the American University of Beirut. She is also a certified SAFE Agile Practitioner.
Iqbal AliKhan is a change agent; he has been at the forefront of applying technology to build new business models for IBM and its clients. Banker by training and experience he moved over to management consulting, building an intuitive understanding of technology and its application. He has used cognitive analytics, Watson (artificial intelligence & machine learning), mobile, big data, IoT, cloud deployments and Blockchains to operationalize new business models. Iqbal has built a diverse portfolio of facilitating enterprise responses to industry disruptions working at the bleeding edge of innovative adoption by commercial and central banks, governments, and commercial organizations.
With over 20 years of work experience Iqbal has worked in the US, Europe and Asia, lived in China and has recently been using Dubai as the base to serve China, Hong Kong, ASEAN, Middle East and Africa, including Pakistan and Turkey.
Sriram Srinivasan leads the Financial Services Industry Vertical at DarkMatter.
Leveraging his long career in Banking, Sriram is excited by the possibilities for the transformation potential in the Financial Sector in the UAE and GCC region.
Sriram is an expert in bringing Digital Transformation to life in Financial Services, especially Consumer Banking. In his previous role, Sriram was the Global Head of Digital Servicing for Standard Chartered Bank. He strategized and led transformational initiatives that launched over 25 Client Journeys on Mobile / Internet Banking across 15 Countries worldwide.
Prior to this, Sriram setup and led the Asia Pacific Digital Center of Excellence for HSBC, based in Hong Kong. With a focus on bringing transformational banking experiences in China & Hong Kong, Sriram built a multi-cultural team of Digital experts with presence in Hong Kong and China.
Previously, Sriram had a long Digital Career in Citibank, with experience building a completely Digital Bank in Japan, Digital Center of Excellence in Singapore & India, as well as leading Digital Banking for Citibank in Vietnam.
Amit Malhotra joined Commercial Bank of Dubai in October 2017. Prior to joining CBD, Amit was Senior Managing Director and Group Retail Banking Head at Al Hilal Bank in Abu Dhabi. Prior to moving to the UAE, he held senior retail and credit roles in Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, Vietnam and India as well as similar roles in Citibank in Thailand and India. Amit holds a BCom (Hons) from Delhi University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from the Institute of Management Technology, India.
Amit is a trained Six Sigma Master Black Belt and he was a founding member of www.makemytrip.com, India’s largest online travel company with market cap of over $1.2 billion.
Prashant is currently the Head of Marketing and Customer Analytics at First Abu Dhabi Bank. He has over 20 years of international experience in leading teams that use numbers and analytics to drive revenue and generate positive customer impact. At FAB, he looks at maximizing the contribution from the current customer portfolio, Advance analytics and CRM for the personal banking group.
Most of his career was spent in the USA, working for companies like HSBC, Capital One and Booz Allen. He has also been an entrepreneur in the technology space.
Prashant is an alumnus of MIT, The University of Texas at Austin, The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi and The National Institute of Technology, Calicut.
Prashant lives in Abu Dhabi with his family and occasionally tries his hand at Golf.
Pawel currently leads IBM’s Financial Services Sector in the Middle East and Africa, serving major retail and commercial banks, Central Banks, insurers and other financial institutions – from Turkey to South Africa. In this role he and his team are responsible for shaping and successfully executing IBM’s strategy for the Financial Sector. He has over 30 years of professional and executive experience in information technology, software development, business consulting and management, with focus on technology applications in banking and insurance. He regularly advises IBM customers on topics such as innovation, strategy and business models, digital reinvention, Blockchain and artificial intelligence.
Pawel joined IBM in 1995 as a professional hire and has worked in a variety of roles encompassing software development, consulting, solution design, partner management and business development. During his professional career he has worked in over 20 countries. He holds MSc in Computer Science (with distinction) from Warsaw University in Poland. Subsequently he completed post-graduate education in Machine Learning and Genetic Algorithms at George Mason University, and earned executive certifications from George Washington University and Harvard Business School. At various stages of his career he was certified as an IBM Executive Architect, Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Strategic Alliances Professional (ASAP) and Design Thinking Practitioner.
With a passion for technology and Fintech, Sherif recently joined forces with Kony DBX as the Digital Client Executive for the Middle East where he is working on enabling banks to get the best out of their digital transformation strategies. He is also responsible for developing the right strategic partnerships in place to create that perfect equation of market growth.
Prior to that, he had recently moved back to Egypt from the Netherland to help create and implement Microsoft Africa’s startups programs. He also has an extensive experience in Digital banking which he acquired during his time in Europe. With an extensive knowledge of emerging markets, he has already supported different leading companies to grow their businesses in the region, working in different roles, ranging from sales and business development to consultancy and partnerships in different corners for the world.
Sherif holds a BSc. of business informatics and a Master's of project management from Nantes University in France.
Seasoned banker with 23 years of corporate & investment banking experience with leading commercial and investment banks in UAE, Bahrain, Bombay and London. 16.5 years with Emirates NBD in Dubai of which the last 5 years as head of corporate banking unit responsible for P&L and balance sheet of USD 3 billion MNC, regional corporates and contracting book of ENBD. The book was built from scratch over a 5 year period. Recently joined RAK Bank as Head of MNC Banking.
Fahad holds a Master’s degree in Technology, and has over 15+ years of experience which includes taking multiple roles in the technology, supply chain and banking industry.
He has been working in digitizing and automating processes in banks since 2011. He established the PMO of entire retail portfolio as well the Branch Transformation program and is currently the Head of Retail & Enterprise Banking Technology in SABB
With over 20 years of Marketing & Communications experience, Sandeep has helped build successful brands across a diverse spectrum of industries spanning India and Middle East markets.
Sandeep has extensive Banking experience, having worked for 11 years at Union National Bank, as SVP & Head of Corporate Communications before recently joining Commercial Bank of Dubai as the Head of Marketing.
Sandeep has also held senior positions in Marketing at multinational companies like Warner Lambert India and Tiffany Foods, Dubai and has helped build global brands across FMCG, Foods, Aviation, Healthcare, and Retail and Service industries through his advertising career.
He has also dabbled with entrepreneurship running a mid-sized advertising agency and a media agency and a Digital Marketing Training consultancy in Dubai for a few years as well.
Sandeep holds a MBA in Marketing and a Mechanical Engineering degree.
Sandeep is married with two kids and a dog and is passionate about fitness, bootcamps and running.
Suresh Ranganathan is the Head of Banking and Financial Services at Aspire Systems. He has been with the company for more than 3 years and he brings over 20 years of varied experiences across business management, sales and operations and key account management. He has been extremely influential and instrumental in delivering great customer experiences for Aspire’s marquee banking clients.
Petr Klimes is the Global Head of Marketing of ADIB and has over 25 years of experience in the banking industry. Petr is responsible for building ADIB’s unique brand platform in the UAE and across ADIB’s international network. Through brand development, research and marketing strategies, ADIB has helped reposition Islamic banking as an inclusive offering aimed at appealing to broad customer segments.
He led ADIB’s rebranding exercise which started with the forward-positioning brand study and culminated with the introduction of the bank’s new positioning and brand identity in 2010.
Additionally, Petr contributes to ADIB’s digital transformation to ensure that the bank uses the latest technologies to deliver the best customer experience by emphasising that the true purpose of digital advancement in banking is to enhance the value of human interactions.
He joined ADIB in 2008 from Samba Financial Group, where he held the position of Marketing Director for the Corporate bank. Prior to that, the majority of his experience was spent at Citibank for over 12 years including Country Head of Marketing for Citibank in Prague, various positions in product development, marketing and sales management. Klimes holds a graduate degree from the Prague School of Economics and part of his study was carried out at the University of Wisconsin in the United States.
Murtadha Jawad Al Lawati is the AGM – Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications of Alizz Islamic Bank. He joined Alizz Islamic Bank in November 2017 and is a seasoned Marketing and Communication professional with extensive experience of over 12 years of leading and transforming marketing efforts in various industries.
Prior to joining Alizz Islamic Bank he was the Head of Corporate Affairs at Oman Environmental Services Holding Company and was responsible for implementing an innovative strategic plan to increase revenue, brand recognition and social engagement.
Murtadha is renowned for his ability to assess the comprehensive needs of various key initiatives and businesses and then delivering an innovative, simple and creative communication and marketing strategy that ventures into technology driven marketing activities which show a clear growth path and a visible return on the marketing investment while always delivering strong, sustainable results.
Some of the major projects AL Lawati was involved in during his career include leading and overseeing the rebranding projects that transformed The Wave, Muscat to Al Mouj Muscat and Nawras telecommunications to Ooredoo, supporting both company’s visions to become a leading global brand in their respective sectors.
Murtadha holds a BA in International Studies with a Concentration in International Economics from the American University of Sharjah. Additionally, he is a recipient of the US State Department’s Edward Murrow Program for Leadership grant which allowed him to spend time working at the US State Department. Al Lawati is also the winner of the NTI BizPro Award for Oman’s ‘Young Business Leaders and Super Achievers’ for 2012.
Aly Ajani is currently the Corporate Bank Co-Head for Citi in the UAE. He is an experienced banker, with Corporate Banking, Corporate Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions capabilities in the UAE banking sector. Responsible for the Corporate Banking business in the UAE, Aly provides client coverage and drives business growth with a track record of delivering profitable business growth by building strong client relationships. He has extensive experience in portfolio, risk and relationship management with strong credentials of delivering seamless execution of transactions. Aly joined Citi in 2002 in Pakistan. He moved to Dubai in 2010 and has been instrumental in developing Citi UAE’s client base and positioning Citi as a top international bank. He previously worked in Qatar and Pakistan where he was responsible for managing corporate and public sector relationships.
Since 2016, Aly has been heading the Dubai Corporate Bank business and has been involved in various capacities including leading the origination of some landmark deals with the most sophisticated clients in Dubai. Aly holds an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi. He is fluent English and Urdu. Aly is married with two kids, is an avid golfer and volunteers with Injaz Al-Arab in the UAE.
Ebru Jouzy currently works at HSBC focusing on Risk and Financial Compliance Analytics for the MENAT region. She previously worked for software and management consultancies in London with global clients and now based in Dubai
Béla Vér graduated from Kandó Kálmán College where he studied Information Technology and continued his education at Corvinus University of Budapest where he acquired an MBA degree. After spending a few years working in IT and finance, he gained professional experience and in 1998 he became one of the founders of ApPello Kft. Since its foundation - due to the talented leadership - the small start-up has evolved into a strong SME company and a recognized financial software developer in the CEE region. Moreover, since 2013, ApPello gained international clients (in Croatia, Czech, Romania and Slovakia) as well.
At the very beginning Béla was actively involved in software development but presently he is responsible for the business development and expansion in foreign countries.
Suresh leads the Business Banking Division of Commercial Bank of Dubai, focusing on providing finance advisory, lending and depositary products and services to SMEs in UAE. He has been working with SMEs in UAE since over 18 years in different banks. His expertise is in offering structured lending solutions to SMEs based on their financing requirements on large scale basis. In times when most banks in UAE stayed away from SMEs, Suresh has been able to develop win-win propositions for SMEs and Banks thereby ensuring availability of finance for SMEs in different industry sectors in UAE.
Suresh has worked at Senior levels in Banks and has been part of many Strategic committees engaged in developing innovative products and services for SMEs in areas of cash management, trade finance and digital technology. Some of the offerings that have been successfully launched for SMEs through these committees include Internet Banking, Mobile App, Cash & Cheque Deposit solutions and Buyer-led supply chain finance. He is an all rounder with knowledge of regulatory and compliance requirements in this space.
Jameel is a seasoned banking professional with a career spanning 10 countries over the last 15 years. Transformation focused, he’s helping Mashreq Bank shape its innovation agenda as Head of Strategy for the Technology organization.
As the bank has just turned 50, his key focus is to support its significant drive to Digital through engagement with emerging FinTechs, and adoption of Mobility, Advanced Analytics, Intelligent Process Automation and Blockchain technologies, as it readies itself for success in the next 50 years.
Jameel has been based in the Middle East for the last five years and closely follows developments in banking and digital technologies across the GCC and beyond.
Jameel graduated in Engineering and Management from Imperial College, London, and following a postgraduate degree in Computer Science, built his career helping banks solve complex challenges as a management consultant with Accenture & KPMG in the UK, Mainland Europe and the Middle East.
Kazim Ali manages Noor Bank’s Corporate Banking division in his role as Head of Corporate Banking. He possesses over 27 years of diverse experience in the banking industry and is one of Noor Bank’s founding members, joining the Bank in 2008. Kazim’s key responsibilities at Noor Bank have comprised of a variety of leadership roles; supervising the overall direction and setting the bank’s strategy, overseeing the formulation and implementation of the Corporate Banking division’s plans, as well as building and maintaining Noor Bank's strong relationships with corporates.
Prior to Noor Bank, he was Senior Vice President of Credit Portfolio Management at ABN Amro Bank NV in Hong Kong. He has also managed corporate relationships, origination and development of the wholesale banking strategy at ABN Amro in Pakistan. Kazim is a holder of a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi, Pakistan.
Rengan Seshadri is Citi's Head of Cards & Loans for UAE and Bahrain. Prior this role, he was Citi’s Asia Pacific Head of Lending based in Singapore. In 2013, he was the head of Credit Cards & Loans business in Indonesia. Before moving to Asia, Rengan was based in New York with Citi’s US cards business leading product management and marketing for AT&T Universal Card. Rengan has over 20 years of cross-functional experience in consumer banking & retail financial services and has held roles with increasing responsibilities in Operations & Technology, Sales & Marketing, Finance & Strategy.
Rengan holds an M.B.A. from INSEAD, France.
A senior professional with over 24 years of experience in the career of Banking in the largest banks in Egypt and GCC with a multitude of qualifications in management and leadership in Retail, SME and Corporate Banking, in both Conventional and Islamic Banking.
Syed Naqvi is the Head of Data and Analytics for Al Hilal Bank, During his over 17 years of career, Syed oversaw and spearheaded various RegTech, Data and Digital Transformation initiatives for banks and other industries in the Middle East that resulted in impactful profit increases, operational efficiency and regulatory compliance.
Before his current role, Syed has held senior regional positions with SAS, Oracle and Teradata. Syed holds a degree in Computer Systems Engineering and had earned PMP in his mid career. He is also a member of CIO MENA community, GARP, regional Chapter of CFA Institute and actively speaks on topics related to Artificial Intelligence, Data & Analytics, RegTech and Digital Transformations.
Neha Goel, Business Development Manager, Comarch
As a passionate tech evangelist, Neha recently joined Comarch Financial Services as Business Development Lead for expansion of Comarch’s innvovative fintech solutions for Banks and FIs in the Middle East. Prior to that, she worked with various institutions across different sectors to strategize their digital transformation journeys and adopt latest technologies like facial & Voice Recognition, AI, Chatbots etc.
She holds a degree of B.E.(hons) in Computer Science from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
Jacques has over 20 years of experience in the financial industry and has an extensive track record in business development for some of the world’s leading banking software companies.
Nabilah Annuar is currently the Editor of Banker Middle East. With a demonstrated history in financial journalism and publishing, she was previously an editor with Islamic Finance News (IFN). Nabilah holds a Bachelor of Laws from the International Islamic University Malaysia and an Islamic Finance Qualification from the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment.
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