Liss, England, United Kingdom
On graduating from Cambridge University in 1974, I started my banking career with Chase Manhattan Bank's Corporate Banking Division in the City of London and then joined Manufacturers Hanover Trust Bank in their European Credit Unit followed by a period as an Account Manager with them in Paris managing relationships with Scandinavian subsidiaries. In 1979, I joined the Lloyds Bank Group in London in the Corporate Banking Division managing the Bank's relationships with multinationals both in the UK and globally. In 1981 I became Deputy Country Manager for the UAE and Oman based in Dubai meeting the requirements of corporates both indigeneous and international for local loans, trade finance, eurocurrency loans, construction and project finance as well as the personal finance needs of the wealthy owners of local companies and the ruling families. This exciting and satisfying first experience of the Gulf was followed by a period in New Zealand as Head of the Investment Bank in the country followed by time in the Head Office of the Bank in London reporting to main board directors and getting considerable exposure to Strategic and Business Planning. I subsequently held positions with the Bank as Country and General Manager in South Korea, Regional Commercial Banking Manager for the North of England and Scotland, Area Director for Commercial Banking in London and finally as Managing Director of the Bank's Asset Finance business. In 2002 an opportunity presented itself to go back to the Gulf in a completely different type of organisation running the revenue side of the businesses of Doha Bank in Qatar and Burgan Bank in Kuwait including Corporate, Private and Retail Banking as well as Treasury operations. Since 2007 I have been undertaking consultancy work for GVC most recently in Libya as part of the consultancy team of Booz Consulting as well as with Accenture and BCG in Europe.
Gulf Wealth Management Limited ("GWM") plans to set up the first digital wealth management e-commerce platform in the GCC region. GWM’s objective is to link the high net worth, affluent and mass affluent individuals in the GCC region with first class international institutional asset managers. Somewhat akin to Alibaba that was inspired by eBay but modified for the Chinese market, the GWM initiative modifies for the GCC region a successful e-commerce business model as exemplified by Hargreaves Lansdown and Nutmeg in the United Kingdom. The vision of the company is to achieve within a 5 year period a top three market position in the GCC through the effective use of digital channels, alliance partnerships with regional brokerage firms, and by partnering with international investment management firms.
Gulf Ventures Corporation (GVC) is a venture development and management consulting firm dedicated exclusively to the financial services sector in the GCC region where the sector faces formidable challenges and exciting opportunities. In the Venture Development side of its business, it identifies market opportunities created as a result of changes in the local business environment and seeks to establish new financial institutions with local partners to take advantage of these opportunities for the benefit of shareholders and the marketplace in which they operate. In addition GVC provides premium quality consulting services in the GCC region while competing (and sometimes working) with large international consulting firms and corporate finance boutiques.
Burgan Bank was established 1977 as a small local Kuwaiti bank and since its foundation nearly 40 years ago, has grown into a full service bank providing retail, corporate, private and treasury banking services both domestically and internationally. It is the third largest bank in Kuwait in terms of assets and in addition to the domestic branch network, owns five subsidiary banks across the Middle East and North Africa. These are Gulf Bank Algeria - AGB (Algeria); Bank of Baghdad - BOB (Iraq); Jordan Kuwait Bank - JKB (Jordan); Tunis International Bank - TIB (Tunisia) and Burgan Bank Turkey. The Bank has a total of over 240 branches across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Doha Bank is the largest private commercial bank in the State of Qatar. It was incorporated in 1978 and commenced its domestic and international banking services in Doha, Qatar on March 15, 1979. The Bank provides the full range of banking services not only in Qatar but also in Asia, Europe and North America as well as in the United Arab Emirates through both full branches and representative offices.
Lloyds Banking Group is a leading UK based financial services group providing a wide range of banking and financial services, focused on personal and commercial customers. The Group’s main business activities are retail, commercial and corporate banking, general insurance, and life, pensions and investment provision. The Group operates the UK’s largest retail bank and has a large and diversified customer base. Services are offered through a number of well recognised brands including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, and Scottish Widows, and a range of distribution channels. This includes the largest branch network in the UK and a comprehensive digital, telephony and mobile services. Lloyds Banking Group is quoted on both the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange and is one of the largest companies within the FTSE 100.