Dubai’s Emirates NBD reshuffles management team

Dubai-based lender Emirates NBD has announced various strategic changes to its group executive committee, including expanding the responsibility of existing senior management team members.

Suvo Sarkar, group head of retail banking and wealth management will retire after a decade-long tenure at Emirates NBD.

Sarkar will be succeeded by Marwan Hadi, who joined the bank in 2019 as head of retail banking, UAE and brings over 18 years of banking experience in which he has held several senior banking positions including head of retail banking and wealth management UAE at HSBC Bank Middle East Limited.

Emirates NBD announces strategic changes to management team.https://t.co/bEChnweKE4 pic.twitter.com/DUnUp6vaoI

— Emirates NBD (@EmiratesNBD_AE) December 12, 2022

Ahmed Al Qassim, who is currently the 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. He will take the role of group head of wholesale banking. He brings forth over 18 years of commercial and investment banking experience in senior leadership positions, the lender said in a statement.

Ammar Al Haj has been appointed as group treasurer and head of global markets. Al Haj has worked across foreign exchange, interest rate derivatives, global funding and principal investments, asset and liability management and will also join the bank’s group executive committee. He takes over the role of Aazar Al Khawaja, who has been appointed as group head of international and advisor to the Group CEO for DenizBank.

The chief executive officers across Emirates NBD’s international offices will report to Al Khawaja in his new role. In addition to serving on the bank’s group executive committee, Al Khawaja will also join DenizBank’s management board, subject to local regulatory approvals.

Neeraj Makin, who served as senior executive vice-president and group head – international and group strategy, 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.

He will also continue 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 advanced analytics centre of excellence, the statement added.

Makin has been instrumental in enabling the bank’s international expansion including the acquisition of DenizBank and Emirates NBD Egypt and further expanding branch network in Saudi Arabia and India. He remains a member of the group executive committee and a board member for Emirates NBD Egypt.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates NBD to buy Turkey’s Denizbank for $2.8bn in revised deal

“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 per cent of our senior management team in UAE are Emiratis,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Emirates NBD.

“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.”

The lender reported Dhs9.1bn in net profit for the first nine months of the year, increasing 25 per cent year-on-year.

Read: Emirates NBD reports 25% rise in net profit for first nine months of 2022