Emirates NBD announces strategic changes to management team

4 Min | 12 December 2022

Bank’s Chairman HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum welcomes bank’s new Group Executive Committee

Dubai, UAE, 12 December, 2022: Emirates NBD, a leading banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Turkey) region, has announced various strategic changes to its Group Executive Committee, including expanding the responsibility of existing senior management team members.

Retail Banking and Wealth Management:

Veteran banker Suvo Sarkar, Group Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management will retire after a successful decade-long tenure at Emirates NBD, underpinned by his deep banking knowledge, steadfast temperament, ability to inspire others and relentless focus on innovation.

Marwan Hadi has been appointed Group Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management and a member of the Group Executive Committee, succeeding Suvo Sarkar. Marwan joined the bank in 2019 as Head of Retail Banking, UAE and has been pivotal in steering the success of the Retail Business over the last few years. He brings with him over 18 years of banking experience in which he has held several senior positions including Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management UAE at HSBC Bank Middle East Limited.

Corporate and Institutional Banking:

Ahmed Al Qassim, currently Group Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking and member of the bank’s Group Executive Committee, will expand his role to include Global Markets, Treasury and Research to become the Group Head of Wholesale Banking. Al Qassim has over 18 years of commercial and investment banking experience in senior leadership positions and in his current role, has delivered substantial growth and championed the adoption of digital innovation, AI and customer experience to enhance the bank’s corporate banking proposition.

Ammar Al Haj has been appointed as Group Treasurer and Head of Global Markets. Ammar is an experienced Global Markets and Treasury expert having worked across foreign exchange, interest rate derivatives, global funding and principal investments, asset and liability management. Ammar will also join the bank’s Group Executive Committee.

Emirates NBD Group:

Aazar Ali Khwaja, formerly serving as Group Head of Global Markets & Treasury has been appointed as Group Head of International & Advisor to the Group CEO for DenizBank. Over the past ten years, Aazar has played a key role in positioning Emirates NBD as one of the top three banking and financial services groups for Global Banking and Markets in the Middle East, delivering substantial growth in revenues. The Chief Executive Officers across Emirates NBD’s international offices will report to Aazar in his new role, leveraging his considerable international banking experience. In addition to serving on the bank’s Group Executive Committee, Aazar will also join DenizBank’s Management Board, subject to local regulatory approvals.

Formerly serving as Senior Executive Vice-President and Group Head – International & Group Strategy, Neeraj Makin, will now be responsible for leading the bank’s newly approved Corporate Venture Capital Fund, with an increased focus on merger and acquisition opportunities across the Group. This will be in addition to continuing to lead the strategy function where he will be responsible for developing group and business segment strategy, continuing to lead strategic transformation projects and the bank’s fast-growing Advanced Analytics Centre of Excellence. Over the past 3 years, Neeraj has led the international business commendably integrating it further within the group, managing the International units’ transformation agenda and growing revenues. He has been instrumental in enabling the bank’s international expansion including successful acquisition of DenizBank and Emirates NBD Egypt and further expanding branch network in KSA and India. Neeraj remains an integral member of the Group Executive Committee and a Board Member for Emirates NBD Egypt.

Commenting on the appointments, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Emirates NBD said: “I am delighted to see that our focus on long term succession planning has led to such talented Emiratis moving into Senior roles, I feel very proud that 70% of our Senior Management team in UAE are Emiratis. We are confident that under the stewardship of our new leadership team, we will be able to capitalise on the many exciting growth opportunities ahead of us and continue to strengthen our position as a leading bank in the region.”

Emirates NBD continues to lead the way on the Emiratisation agenda by significantly investing in upskilling, re-skilling and developing Emiratis though globally recognised training and development programs around the world. Currently recruiting Emiratis into Digital and Advanced Analytics roles, Emirates NBD has also recently launched the most sought-after graduate program called “Ruwad” which provides unique learning experiences, both locally and internationally, to the very best Emirati graduates in the UAE, creating a talent pool of senior leaders.

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