James O'Brien
Head of Regulatory DevelopmentCentral Bank of the United Arab Emirates

James O’Brien is Head of Regulatory Development at the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates since 2012. He is responsible for the design and implementation of the Central Bank’s new regulatory strategy.

James has 25 years financial regulatory and management experience across several international jurisdictions. He has worked with the financial regulators in the UK, Ireland, US, Australia and now the UAE. He has extensive experience in regulatory policy design and implementation and in direct prudential supervision of the financial sector, including banks, building societies, credit unions and foreign exchanges.

Prior to joining the Central Bank of the UAE, James was a member of the Senior Management Team of the Central Bank of Ireland. He was closely involved in the work on restructuring the Irish financial sector post the global financial crisis and the re-design and development of the regulatory and supervisory framework.

James has been a member of various international regulatory and supervisory policy committees, including the European Central Bank, the Bank for International Settlements, the OECD and the International Credit Union Regulatory Network.