Are You Prepared for the New Age of Digital Banking?

Shaikha K. Al Bahar

Deputy Group CEO

National Bank of Kuwait

Shaikha K. Al Bahar currently holds the position of Deputy Group CEO for the National Bank of Kuwait Group (NBK), the leading financial institution in Kuwait and one of the largest in the Middle East. Prior to her current position, Mrs. Al Bahar led the Group’s Kuwait operations as NBK‐Kuwait CEO between 2010 and 2013, consistently contributing more than 70% of the Group’s profits. In addition to being a member of most management committees at NBK Group, Mrs. Al Bahar is the Chairperson of National Bank of Kuwait (Lebanon), National Bank of Kuwait France S.A. and National Bank of Kuwait (Egypt) and a Board Member of National Bank of Kuwait (International) P.L.C., the Group’s UK subsidiary. Besides her role at NBK, Mrs. Al Bahar is also a member of Kuwait’s Supreme Council for Planning and Development from 2017 – 2021. Mrs. Al Bahar is a proficient strategic leader with extensive experience in commercial and investment banking, as well as corporate and project finance. Through her career, she managed many landmark transactions on the sovereign and the institutional levels across the Middle East. During her tenure at NBK, Mrs. Al Bahar played a key role in turning the Group into a leading regional institution, operating in 15 countries across the globe, with total assets reached USD 107.8 Billion and net profits of USD 844.8 Million as of sept 2021. Mrs. Al Bahar was renowned over the years as a prominent Arab female figure and has been regularly featured in various respectable rankings, including the world’s 100 most powerful Arab women by Forbes Middle East and Arabian Business. Mrs. Al Bahar holds a Bachelor degree majoring in international marketing and with a minor in statistics. She also attended several executive management programs at reputable universities and business schools including Harvard, INSEAD, Wharton, Stanford, Duke as well as the National University of Singapore.

Rola Abu Manneh

Chief Executive Officer, A Fair Share Advisory Board member

Standard Chartered Bank, UAE

Rola Abu Manneh is the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank UAE, a role she has held since August 2018. She is the first Emirati woman to head a bank in the UAE. In her role, Rola has been responsible for transforming the UAE business into one of the biggest five markets for the Standard Chartered Group. Over the years, Rola has championed women empowerment and female entrepreneurship through different initiatives and is committed to supporting the wider community by providing university students with mentorship programmes, in collaboration with leading partners, which aim to prepare participants with the necessary skills to succeed in their chosen professions. As a testament to her efforts, in February 2021 for the second consecutive year, Rola was featured as one of the Middle East’s Power Businesswomen by Forbes Middle East. During her first year with the Bank, Rola was included in Arabian Business’ ‘World’s Most Powerful Arabs in 2019’ list. She was also recognised by Forbes ME as one of the ‘Top 20 Women Leading Top Companies in the Middle East’. During the same year, Financial News listed her as one of the most influential female leaders. Before joining Standard Chartered Bank, Rola was the Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for Abu Dhabi at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). In this role, her responsibility was to maintain relationships between FAB and its client base, including government, government-related entities, elite customer groups, family corporations, local corporations, multinational corporations and commercial banking services. Prior to this, Rola served as General Manager of FAB’s Wholesale Banking Group, which comprised of Project Finance Syndications, Financial Institutions Group and Global Transaction Banking. Rola completed her studies at the University of London – Royal Holloway and Bedford New College and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics & Operational Research. She is fluent in Arabic and English and is married with two children.

Dr. Yousif Almas

Group Chief Innovation Officer

Bank ABC

Dr. Yousif Almas is the Group Chief Innovation Officer at Bank ABC. He is responsible for driving the innovation agenda and supporting the digital transformation of the Bank ABC Group. Prior to this post, he was the Chief Digital Officer of Bank ABC’s mobile-only digital Bank ila. Dr. Yousif Almas also held several roles in the bank managing different group wide programmes for the implementation of technology platforms across different business lines and geographies. Dr. Yousif is actively engaged in shaping the next levels of banking innovation in the region and beyond. He is a sought-after and frequent speaker at established international conferences on digital innovation. Dr. Yousif is the Chairman of the Digitization Committee of the Bahrain Association of Banks. He have received several distinguished awards. Most recently, he was recognised as the Chief Digital Officer of the year 2019. Dr. Yousif holds a PhD from the University of Surrey in the UK with published research focused on Behavioral Finance and Artificial Intelligence. In addition, he holds a Master’s degree with distinction in Information Systems from the same university. He also examines graduate university projects related to Management and Technology Innovation.

Yasmeen Al-Sharaf

Director - FinTech & Innovation Unit, A Fair Share Advisory Board member

Central Bank of Bahrain

“Yasmeen Al-Sharaf is the Director of the FinTech & Innovation Unit at the Central Bank of Bahrain (“CBB”), tasked with setting up a conducive ecosystem to facilitate a robust regulatory framework that fosters innovation within the financial services sector. She has been working with the CBB for the past 16 years, whereby, she started her journey at the CBB at the Licensing Directorate. During the time spent within the Licensing Directorate, Yasmeen got to work closely with banks, investment companies, insurance companies, financing companies and ancillary service provider both local and international, as well as gaining insight and a thorough understanding of Bahrain’s regulatory framework governing all sectors within the financial services industry. Yasmeen has been in charge for designing and implementing the FinTech strategy for the Central Bank of Bahrain. She has worked on creating the Kingdom’s Regulatory Sandbox and is in charge of supervising all companies operating in the Regulatory Sandbox. Yasmeen has also successfully worked on a number FinTech regulations that were issued by the CBB, making the Kingdom of Bahrain the first country in the GCC and wider MENA regions to issue such regulations. One of Yasmeen’s latest achievements was the launch of the Kingdom’s first digital sandbox platform “FinHub973”. Her tremendous efforts has led to the recognition of the Kingdom of Bahrain as a leading FinTech hub in the MENA region. Yasmeen represents the CBB at a number of regional and international FinTech Working Group’s and committees, including the Global Financial Innovation Network (“GFIN”). She is also the Chairman of the Regulatory Sandbox Applications Committee at the CBB, a member of Bahraini’s Women in FinTech Committee which is being led by the Supreme Council for Women in Bahrain and is a member of the Advisory Committee of Bloomberg LP’s GCC gender diversity initiative, ‘A Fair Share’. She has also been selected as one of the “Top 100 Women in FinTech 2019” by Lattice80 Hub in collaboration with Miss Kaya and has been selected by Innovate Finance UK to be on the “Women in FinTech Powerlist”, for two years in a row (2019 & 2020), amongst 200 other women from around the world, under the ‘Policymakers and Regulatory Experts’ category. Prior to joining the CBB, Yasmeen worked briefly at Bahrain Islamic Bank within the Corporate Finance Department. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Banking and Finance from the University of Bahrain. She also holds a professional certificate in “FinTech & Regulatory Innovation” from the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, University of Cambridge.

Benjamin Grolimund

Head of Sales, Middle East & Africa, Chair of A Fair Share

Bloomberg L.P.

Benjamin is the Regional Head of Middle East and Africa at Bloomberg LP. He joined Bloomberg in London in 2008 where he focused on business development for the French market. He moved to Dubai in 2012 to head the UAE and Middle East Sales teams. Benjamin holds a bachelor degree from the University of Brighton and a masters degree from ESCE Paris.

Edmond Christou

Analyst, Banks and Insurers

Bloomberg Intelligence

Edmond Christou is a Financial analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, covering the largest banks and insurers in the Gulf. Prior to this role, he covered the European insurance sector. Christou's research included analysis of over twenty European insurers including Swiss Re, RSA and Storebrand, looking at each of their long-term value creation, capital position and profitability. Prior to Bloomberg, he was an analyst at SCB Consulting, where he was part of strategic planning projects for major banks in the Middle East. Based in Dubai, Christou holds a Master's degree in Insurance and Risk Management from Cass Business School, and a Bachelor's degree in Finance from the American University of Technology in Beirut. He also holds a professional diploma in insurance from the UK Chartered Insurance Institute.

Sabina Mehmood

Product Manager, Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index

Bloomberg L.P.

Sabina Mehmood joined Bloomberg in March 2015 where she serves as product manager of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI). The GEI, which sits in Bloomberg's Sustainable Finance Solutions team, tracks the financial performance of companies committed to advancing women in the workplace globally. Previously specializing in marketing management, Sabina has supported government relations, media and communications initiatives across the firm as well as well as philanthropic programming at Bloomberg Philanthropies. Sabina also sits as a steering committee member of the US 30% Club, managing client relations and programming. In this role, Sabina builds regionalized, targeted, and integrated event strategies that enable cross-business integration and influence business value and results. Sabina has a BBA in Finance from the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, and a MS in Corporate Communications from The Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, Baruch College.

Hadeel Habib

Company Financials Data Specialist

Bloomberg Lp

Hadeel Habib is a Company Financials Data Specialist within Bloomberg’s Global Data team in Dubai. She has over 10 years of data management experience across Economic Statistics and Company Financials data. As a Co-Lead for Bloomberg's Abilities Community, Hadeel is a strong advocate for nurturing inclusive teams and driving D&I engagement. Hadeel graduated from York University in Toronto, Canada with a degree in Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance with Honors.