Bahrain’s GIB hires Deutsche Bank’s Jamal Al Kishi as CEO

Jamal Al Kishi, Deutsche Bank AG’s chief executive officer for the Middle East and Africa, has quit to join Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank BSC.

Al Kishi, who had been with the German lender since 2007, will become CEO of GIB’s parent company and deputy group CEO, the bank said in a statement.

Headquartered in Bahrain, GIB is almost fully owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. It also has operations in the UK, US and the United Arab Emirates, according to its website.

Al Kishi is leaving Deutsche Bank as the lender puts on hold plans to cut almost 18,000 jobs over the next three years because of the coronavirus outbreak. The layoffs were part of a restructuring to restore the bank to profitability after half a decade of losses.

Deutsche Bank’s Middle East operations have recently suffered a number of several high profile departures.

Its CEO for Saudi Arabia left last year to become the head of international investments at Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Co., while Faisal Rahman, co-head of corporate and investment banking for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, left after almost 18 years in 2018 to join SoftBank Group Corp.