RAKBank appoints new CEO

The National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBank) has appointed Raheel Ahmed as its new CEO, it announced on Thursday.

He succeeds Peter England, who will retire to Australia after leading the bank for over eight years, a statement said.

Ahmed will join the bank on January 3, 2022 and will take over as CEO during the first quarter of 2022, after the designated handover period is completed.

He joins RAKBank from Barclays UK, where he was member of the executive committee and the chief product and analytics officer, responsible for the strategy and commercial performance of personal banking products. He was also the executive sponsor of diversity and inclusion.

He also previously worked with Standard Chartered Bank as the regional head of Consumer Banking for Middle East and Africa.

In his new role, Ahmed will be tasked with developing and executing strategies to increase profitability and gain market share, the statement said.

“A big part of my job will be to enable our team to bring innovative products and services to the market at speed thereby further strengthening our position in the UAE and in Ras Al Khaimah,” said Ahmed.

RAKBank has seen strong growth this year, and reported a nine-month net profit of Dhs534.7m for this year, up 21.9 per cent from Dhs438.6m during the same period last year.

The bank attributed the profit spike to a reduction in the provisions for credit loss as well as an increase in non-interest income.

“We have seen a continual improvement in asset quality at RAKBank especially in the last two quarters, which has led to a significant improvement in profitability,” England said at the time.