Founding Member: Waheed Rathore (2016-19) – Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Previous Executive Vice President
Mr. Qutub Yousafali is a banking professional with more than 35 years of experience in finance and banking who joined AlBaraka Banking Group in January 2012. Prior to that Mr. Yousafali worked with Arab Banking Corporation (B.S.C.) in Bahrain, for nearly 18 years in a number of roles, including Group Head of Compliance. In this role he was responsible for overseeing and coordinating compliance functions and activities, including regulatory compliance, corporate governance, anti-money laundering and international sanctions across the network of offices worldwide. Prior to this appointment in 2009, Mr. Yousafali had held a number of senior positions in the Arab World Division & Universal Banking in Arab Banking Corporation (B.S.C.), to which he transferred in 1995 from an affiliate bank where he had held a number of senior positions, including Head of Internal Audit and Finance.
Mr. Yousafali commenced his professional career with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG), London. During his long working career, Mr. Yousafali has gained varied experience in compliance, business & expansion strategies, investment analysis, feasibility studies, financial accounting and auditing. He is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, UK.
Joined Arab Bank in December 2002 as Director of Group Regulatory Compliance, Mr. Dabbour has more than 21 years of experience in Regulatory Compliance Risk Management, Combatting Financial Crimes, Anti Money Laundering, Sanctions and Embargo Programs, and Audit and Compliance. He spent 7 years working for a “Big Four” public accounting firm. Mr. Dabbour participated as a speaker in several national and international conferences and workshops on Regulatory Compliance, Combatting Financial Crimes, Anti Money Laundering, Combatting Terrorism Financing, and Corporate Governance. Mr. Dabbour is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).
Eduardo Rangel is the Deputy Group Chief Compliance Officer at BANK ABC, Bahrain. Previously Mr. Rangel was the Head of Global Financial Crime Compliance Advisory across EMEA at J.P. MORGAN in London. Also, he has served independently as a Compliance and Regulatory Reporting Adviser based in Stockholm, servicing clients in Scandinavia and continental Europe. Before then, Mr. Rangel was Senior Regional Corporate Counsel for Europe at CEMEX in Madrid. Mr. Rangel enjoys a career in compliance and legal spanning over 25 years designing and implementing compliance programs for banks, financial institutions, corporate clients/multinationals and the public sector. Providing SME advisory in financial crimes and sanctions, counseling industry standards to fulfil regulatory reporting obligations with central banks, financial authorities and regulators and guiding on best practices to manage & mitigate risks associated with financial products and services, traditional and structured trade finance, insurance and reinsurance for clients in over 35 jurisdictions. Mr. Rangel graduated as an Attorney-at-Law from UANL’s Law School and received an M.P.A in Public Finance and Securities from Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the University at Albany, SUNY and an L.L.M. in International Finance from Harvard Law School. He currently serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Committee of International Standards at the Bahrain Association of Banks.
Founding Member: Sharon Craggs (2016-17) – BANK ABC, Bahrain, Previous Group Compliance Officer
Mr. Jebeyli is the Group Head for legal and compliance, covering all Group Audi entities. He is a General Manager, member of the Group Executive Committee, Chairman of the Compliance Officers Committee of the Association of Banks in Lebanon and President of Compliance Officers Committee at the World Union of Arab Bankers.
Prior to joining Bank Audi in 1997, he was the Managing Director for Legal & Compliance at Citibank – Middle East & North Africa. Before Citibank, he was in private legal practice in the USA with focus on commercial and banking matters.
Mr. Jebeyli is a former Lebanese Judge and a member of the N.Y. and American Bar associations. He has an LLM in International Banking from Boston University, School of Law.
Damian O’Riordan is a qualified accountant currently employed as Deputy General Manager, Compliance, at Bank Muscat. He has 20 years financial services audit and compliance experience both in Ireland and internationally. He is a certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), achieved a Certificate in International Treasury Management (Cert ITM) from the Association of Corporate Treasurers in the UK and holds the CIMA Diploma in Islamic Finance (CDIF). He is a qualified compliance professional with an International Diploma in Compliance from the International Compliance Association. He is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School having completed their General Management Programme in 2015. He has extensive experience in business development, project management, corporate governance, internal audit, regulatory risk, compliance and anti-money laundering across various regulated environments.
With more than 20 years of banking experience in Kuwait, Mr. Safa is currently the Head of Compliance Department at Boubyan Bank ( Islamic Banking arm – National Bank of Kuwait ) since 2011. In this capacity he is in charge of preparing the AML & CFT policies & procedures on a risk based approach and has implemented three AML and CFT software for monitoring customers and internal accounts. Mr. Safa is also in charge of regulatory compliance, FATCA & CRS reporting and all disclosure matters.
Before joining Boubyan Bank, Mr. Safa served for 7 years as Head of Compliance at Commercial Bank of Kuwait, 9 years at the Banking Supervision Department at Central Bank of Kuwait, 8 years with Arthur Andersen & Co & with Grant Thornton in Lebanon.
Mr. Safa is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) since 2007.
Victor Matafonov is the Group Chief Compliance Officer at Emirates NBD and is responsible for all regulatory compliance matters. Mr. Matafonov has more than 30 years of international experience in the finance industry covering Australasia, Europe, Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. An Accounting and Economics graduate, he started his career with Coopers and Lybrand in Melbourne prior to moving to ANZ Bank in Melbourne and later to ANZ Grindlays Bank in London. During his time in London he joined Standard Chartered Bank where he worked in various risk and compliance roles, with 10 of those years in the Dubai regional office.
His career experience has been in the audit, risk and compliance areas. This includes more than 17 years in compliance / financial crime risk both at group and regional levels (covering the Middle East, South Asia and Africa).
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Nasser A. Paracha
Head of Audit, Fraud & Compliance Group; Member of Executive Committee, Audit & Compliance Committee and Information Security Committee, Mashreqbank psc.
Mr. Nasser A. Paracha serves as the Head of Audit, Fraud and Compliance Group at Mashreq Bank. Mr. Paracha first joined Mashreq Bank in 1995 and holds over 20 years of banking experience covering corporate banking, internal audit and compliance in the UK, Pakistan and UAE.
Mr. Paracha is an alumnus of Harvard Business School (USA) having completed the General Management Program at Harvard and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Operational Research with Computing from The University of Leeds, UK.
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Rajesh Verma
Head Of Compliance & Bank MLRO- Mashreq Bank
Rajesh is a professional with over 25 years of banking experience spread across Corporate Banking, Risk Review, Internal Audit and Compliance. His experience has been gathered across various leading banks in India, Oman and UAE. He has a Master’s degree in Economics and an Advanced Diploma in Compliance & Financial Crime. Additionally, he has attended Strategic Thinking & Transformational Leadership training courses from The Wharton School and London Business School.
Founding Member: KHALID ABDULLA, SHAIKH (2016-17) – Mashreq UAE, Previous Head of Compliance & Bank MLRO
Mr. Walid Gamal El Din El Seyoufi is currently Deputy General Manager for Group Risk Management and Compliance at National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) and Board Member in NBK-Egypt. He holds 20+ years of strong and sound experience in banking and consulting sectors, mainly in the fields of Risk Management, Corporate Governance, Compliance, Accounting and Auditing.
Before joining NBK Group, Mr. El Seyoufi worked for Arthur Andersen in the field of External Audit and Consulting. During his professional career in NBK Group, he made significant contributions in developing the Risk Management and Compliance framework across all branches and subsidiaries by following worldwide best practices in the Banking industry.
Furthermore, he has contributed in ensuring adequate compliance with all regulatory and statutory requirements pertaining to all countries in which NBK Group operates.
Mr. El Seyoufi possesses a distinct experience in Capital Adequacy planning as per BASEL international standards, stress testing scenarios and monitoring key risk indicators. He also has vast experience in international law related to sound governance, disclosure and transparency as well as protecting shareholders’ rights.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting (BA) from Helwan University, Egypt; a Master’s degree of Science in Risk Management (Msc) from Glasgow Caledonian University, UK and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the American University in Beirut.
He has other professional qualifications from USA which include; Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).
Mr. Saleh Nofal joined QNB Group in June 2003 and currently serves as the Group Chief Compliance Officer handling the Group’s involvement in all Governance, Compliance & Financial Crimes Compliance matters within the organization. Mr. Nofal is a key professional individual who is well recognized within the regulatory environment locally and internationally and has excellent relationships with the regulators in the jurisdictions where the Group operates. Main responsibilities includes providing advices to the BOD and Executive Management on all Governance and Compliance related matters and more generally managing all the compliance and financial crime aspects of the Group.
Prior to joining QNB, Mr. Nofal worked with the Arab Bank, Jordan National Bank in addition to the Arab World Auditing Bureau as an External Auditor and a Jordanian public accountancy firm. Mr Nofal holds a Bachelor’s degree in commerce and has more than 30 years of experience in the banking sector mainly in the Compliance & AML/CTF and the Internal Audit fields. Mr Nofal is a Certified Internal Auditor, a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Compliance Officer and has a professional Diploma in Audit & Accounting and is a professional member of CAMS, IIA and ACFE.
Athal Al-Harbi is a banking and investment professional with more than 14 years of experiences in compliance, AML, governance and risk management. He joined Samba Financial Group in 2015 as Head of Compliance. Prior to joining the group, he worked in several reputable financial institutions in Saudi Arabia as Head of Compliance, Risk, AML, and Governance. He commenced his professional career at the Capital Market Authority (CMA) as an authorization officer. Mr. Al Harbi holds an MSC degree in accounting from Case Western Reserve University. In addition, he holds many professional Certificates such as: Advance Diploma in Compliance, Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) etc.
عذال الحربي
الأستاذ عذال هو مصرفي محترف متخصص في الأعمال المصرفية والاستثمارية، ويتمتع بما يزيد عن 14 عامًا من الخبرة في مجالات الالتزام ومكافحة غسل الأموال والحوكمة وإدارة المخاطر. وقد انضم إلى مجموعة سامبا المالية في عام 2015م كرئيس لإدارة الالتزام. وقبل التحاقه للعمل بالمجموعة، عمل لدى العديد من المؤسسات المالية في المملكة العربية السعودية مديراً للالتزام وإدارة المخاطر ومكافحة غسل الأموال والحوكمة. وقد بدأ الأستاذ عذال مسيرته المهنية كمسئول تراخيص في هيئة السوق المالية. وهو حاصل على شهادة الماجستير في المحاسبة من جامعة كيس ويسترين ريزيرف، كما يحمل العديد من الشهادات المهنية مثل: الدبلوم المهني المتخصص في الالتزام وشهادة اختصاصي معتمد في مكافحة غسل الأموال (CAMS) والعديد من الشهادات الأخرى.
Refinitiv is the Strategic Partner for the MENA FCCG Group. They are represented by David Shepherd, who is the General Secretary of the MENA FCCG Group. David is also the Head of Market Development – Risk (Middle East & North Africa) at Refinitiv, who is responsible for the market strategy for the Refinitiv Risk Division in MENA.
He is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), who also holds a Diploma in Financial Crime and Compliance and brings over 10 years experience in Risk. He recently completed the MIT Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Executive course, with application for the Financial Crime industry.
He specialises in areas such as Ultimate Beneficial Ownership, Adverse Media, Sanctions and Watch List Data as well as legislation including FCPA, UK Bribery Act and global AML and KYC standards.
David has extensive market experience having worked with prominent Financial Institutions, Governments and Multinational Companies both in Europe and across the Middle East and North Africa. He has been based in MENA in the Dubai Head Office since joining Thomson Reuters in 2013.
Advisor of the Union of Arab Banks
Strategic Advisor MENA Financial Crime Compliance Group
Mr. Antoine Hobeiche is the Advisor of the Union of Arab Banks. He is also the Managing Partner of React-Adapt-Lead Consulting, a Canadian-MENA consulting firm that has proven expertise in enhancing some of the biggest private & public sector organizations. He has more than 20 years’ experience in advising government agencies, central banks, banks and other non-financial service providers. Antoine won in 2007 the World Quality Award in Paris- France, in 2008, the Global Crown Award in London- United Kingdom and in 2011, was nominated for the Diamond Award New York-USA. He holds a dual degree in business administration and human resources from Molson Business School, Canada and his specialization is in strategy from Harvard Business School, USA. Antoine is very active in the international community being a prominent speaker for many organizations such as the United Nations and the OECD. Antoine also serves as the advisor of the World Union of Arab Bankers.
A career development, Mr. Wissam H. FATTOUH became the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks in November 2010. As such, he leads the largest banking consortium in the region and the sole representative of the Arab banking community, which aims at the development and advancement of the banking and financial markets, in addition to the crossborder relations and exchange of expertise with international counterparts.
Mr. Fattouh has excellent knowledge and expertise in Arab and International banking and financial sectors, acquired from over 25 years of experience in this domain, and through extensive and close relations with MENA Region, Europe and United States of America, in addition to regional/ International financial and regulatory bodies. His remarkable contact portfolio with Heads of States, officials, ministers, politicians, Governors and regulators, and excellent liaison with banks and financial institutions’ chairmen, CEOs and heads through years of direct and careful relations acted as the vote of confidence for his evident rise to this position.
Before his current position, Mr. Fattouh served as the Acting Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, Director of Conferences Department at UAB and Manager of Databank and Information Technology. He gained a worldwide network of communication and Economic Knowledge through innovatively organizing, and supervising international, regional and local Conferences, Forums and Seminars on banking and financial matters in cooperation with the likes of the US Department of the Treasury, World Bank, IMF, IFC, FATF, United Nation Security Council, European Banking Federations and various international governmental offices.
He established the new line of technical Forums that excelled for its scientific importance and established a number of Professional Groups and Associations, Group of Certified Compliance Officers (GCCO) in MENA Region, Group of Certified Risk Managers (GCRM), in addition to 3 main initiatives for Private Sector Dialogue (PSD): US-MENA PSD, EU-MENA PSD, and TK-MENA PSD, it is a dialogue between the Arab Banking community and its counterparts from Turkey, European Union and United States. The Turkish-Arab, EU-Arab, and US-Arab banking dialogue initiatives cover matters of laws and regulations, investment, trade including Basel recommendations, AML/CFT acts, FATCA law, Derisking, Correspondent banking and others.
Through his suave yet professional persona backed with years of expertise and an eye for the future, Mr. Fattouh has managed to raise funds on continuous basis to get the UAB to the highest standard of professionalism while using advanced technologies and relying on the best human resources. He managed to transform the UAB into an internationally renowned organization with a say on the international banking and financial fronts.
Mr. Fattouh was born in Beirut in September 1965. Married with two children and is a graduate from the Lebanese American University in Beirut class of 1989 and MBA, London 2016. He is fluent in Arabic, English and a good commend of the French language.
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