Wael Qahoush is the Head of Compliance and BSA Officer at FAB USA.  His primary role is to oversee the Compliance function of the Branch from a regulatory and financial crimes perspective. This includes managing, developing, implementing and administering all aspects of the Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Program.  He also acts in an advisory role on a number of regulatory matters facing the bank and ensures that the branch staff receive the appropriate training and awareness as it relates to regulatory requirements and financial crime.

Wael has over 24 years of banking experience. He spent 9 years in various roles as a Senior Relationship Manager, Vice President – Wholesale Banking in the Internal Audit Division, and most recently as the Head of Compliance for Wholesale Banking and International, with NBAD UAE.   Prior to that, Wael held several positions with GE Capital and Wells Fargo Bank and Fremont Investment and Loan in the Default Management and Risk Management areas.

Wael holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters of Arts degree in International Affairs from California State University, Sacramento, CA.  Wael also holds an International Certificate in Banking Risk & Regulation from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and is ACAMS certified.

Victor Matafonov is the Group Chief Compliance Officer at Emirates NBD and has more than 35 years of international banking experience across Australasia, Europe, Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.  This includes more than 20 years in regulatory and financial crime compliance.  He has extensive experience dealing with regulators, industry bodies, correspondent banks and systems vendors in the Middle East, US, UK, Europe and Asia.  Currently, he is the Chairman of the Compliance Committee of the UAE Banking Federation and a founding member of the MENA Financial Crime Compliance Group.

Prior to joining Emirates NBD, he held senior Compliance, Risk and Audit positions with Standard Chartered Bank, Grindlays Bank and the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group based in Dubai, London and Melbourne.  He started his career with Coopers and Lybrand in Melbourne after graduating in Accounting and Economics at Deakin University.

Bhuvana has over 16 years of experience across Asia Pacific, Africa and Middle East regions. She leads the Financial Crime Compliance practice for EY in the MENA region.

She leads several strategic financial crime transformation programs for many banks in the UAE and in the MENA region.  In addition to her professional experience, Bhuvana has been selected to be on the firm’s EMEIA Women in Leadership programme and Global NextGen Program which develops and coaches the leaders of the firm.

She is a certified cost and management accountant and has attained several certifications in the fields of compliance, risk and controls.

Wael Qahoush is the Head of Compliance and BSA Officer at FAB USA.  His primary role is to oversee the Compliance function of the Branch from a regulatory and financial crimes perspective. This includes managing, developing, implementing and administering all aspects of the Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Program.  He also acts in an advisory role on a number of regulatory matters facing the bank and ensures that the branch staff receive the appropriate training and awareness as it relates to regulatory requirements and financial crime.

Wael has over 24 years of banking experience. He spent 9 years in various roles as a Senior Relationship Manager, Vice President – Wholesale Banking in the Internal Audit Division, and most recently as the Head of Compliance for Wholesale Banking and International, with NBAD UAE.   Prior to that, Wael held several positions with GE Capital and Wells Fargo Bank and Fremont Investment and Loan in the Default Management and Risk Management areas.

Wael holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters of Arts degree in International Affairs from California State University, Sacramento, CA.  Wael also holds an International Certificate in Banking Risk & Regulation from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and is ACAMS certified.

Richard Mikhael leads IDEMIA’s business in the Middle East & Africa, and is responsible for the oversight of all IDEMIA’s business units in the region.

With over 25 years of experience in the Biometrics and Identity technology sectors, Richard first joined the company in 1992 as part of its sales team. He has held various leadership roles in the company’s Gulf region offices, growing the company’s revenues and footprint in the Middle East. In particular, Richard established the business in the UAE, Oman, Bahrain and Lebanon.

Richard is based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the American University of Beirut (AUB).

Damien Martinez is the founder and CEO of FACEPOINT, a CrimeTech company specialized in picture Intelligence and Facial recognition. Previously Damien Martinez served as the Risk Director for continental Europe at Thomson Reuters. Over the last 15 years, Damien has specialized in terrorism financing prevention.

He started his expertise as an investigator for the Sept 11 Class action on Al-Qaeda financing, then worked as an expert for the Swiss Federal Police and as a specialized compliance officer for Credit Suisse headquarters in Zurich. Damien Martinez is also the founding partner of the Center for Analysis on Terrorism, a European leading think tank based in Paris.

Muzaffar has over 29 years of banking experience with Citi and FAB across multiple jurisdictions.

As Group Head of FCC, Muzaffar is responsible for the; design, implementation and oversight of FCC program across FAB Group. His responsibility includes program areas covering; AML, Sanctions and Anti-Bribery & Corruption.

Prior to joining FAB in September 2018, Muzaffar had worked with Citi for 27 years across Business (first line) and Compliance (2^nd line - FCC and Regulatory) leadership roles in Pakistan, UAE, Bahrain and the UK.

During his tenor with Citi in the UK, he was Consumer AML Head for EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa) region, followed by AML Head for Corporate Investment Banking and Markets & Securities Services for EMEA. He was also the Chief Anti-Bribery and Corruption Head (interim) for EMEA, covering 53 countries.

Muzaffar has degree in Commerce and Post Graduate qualification in Business Administration. He also studied law.

Michael Wong is Emirates NBD’s Group’s Head of Financial Crime Compliance and is the approved Money Laundering Terrorism Financing Reporting Officer (MLTFRO) in the UAE.  He is responsible for managing the Group’s AML & Sanctions Compliance requirements, which includes setting policy to guide the business in complying with relevant local and international regulatory regimes, promoting and embedding an AML & Sanctions Compliance culture through the rollout of policies, procedures, monitoring and training.   Michael has worked in the legal and financial services industry for the last 20 years.

Michael was previously employed with the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) where he was Head of Financial Crime. Prior to joining the DFSA, Michael was a Prosecutor in Australia for both the State of NSW and the Australian Securities Investments Commission.  He is CAMS certified and holds of Bachelor and Masters Degree in Law

Scott Ramsay is the Group Head of Compliance & Bank Money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) at Mashreq Bank.

He has over 15 years of banking and senior management experience, with an extensive background in areas of compliance, financial crimes, and anti-money laundering amongst others.

Prior to joining Mashreq, he served in senior compliance positions with HSBC in Hong Kong and the UAE. Before HSBC, he also worked as the Head of Sanctions Compliance and later as the Head of Legal and Compliance, Global Markets at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, He started his Compliance career with the ANZ Group where he held several senior management roles for prudential and regulatory compliance. Scott holds a LM from Victoria University, and was admitted as Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.

Mr. Sameer Kuvvakkattayil is a seasoned Compliance professional with over 16 years of experience in Financial Crime Compliance covering multiple roles & responsibilities including Anti Money Laundering/ Counter Terrorist Financing, Sanctions, Regulatory Compliance and Client Due Diligence.

He is the Head of Financial Crime Compliance and MLRO at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB).

He holds MBA in Finance and Marketing, and CAMS.

Tom is the of Head of Financial Crime Compliance and Country MLRO for Standard Chartered Bank UAE, a position he has held since joining SCB in 2016.  He has over 40 years’ experience in international banks, having held senior financial crime roles and regulatory approved (MLRO) positions in the UK. 

Tom is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), Fellow of the International Compliance Association (FICA) and has the ICA Dip (AML) and ICA Professional Post Graduate Dip (AML) qualifications awarded by the International Compliance Association in association the University of Manchester, UK. 

Through extensive involvement in banking industry peer groups over many years, Tom contributed to the development of UK AML/CTF regulations and was a member of the JMLSG Editorial Panel in the UK.  He has also represented UK banks as an expert witness in high profile money laundering cases.  Tom remains passionate about fighting financial crime.

Mr. Rangel is responsible for ADIB’s Compliance framework in UAE, together with other jurisdictions where the bank operates.  His remit includes compliance regulatory reporting obligations, financial crime, testing and assurance, anti-bribery and corruption, whistleblower, as well as managing the relationship with regulators, international law enforcement agencies and correspondent banks.

Previously, Mr. Rangel held senior roles in GCC regional banks, including Chief Compliance Officer at National Bank of Bahrain and Deputy Chief Compliance Officer at Bank ABC, Bahrain.  Before that, he was responsible for Global Financial Crime Compliance Advisory, EMEA at JPMorgan, UK.  He also served independently as a Compliance and Regulatory Reporting Adviser, Sweden.  Mr. Rangel enjoys a career in compliance spanning 30 years designing and implementing compliance programs for banks, financial institutions, corporate clients, multinationals and the public sector in 35 jurisdictions.

Mr. Rangel graduated as an Attorney-at-Law from UANL’s Law School and received an M.P.A. in Public Finance and Securities from Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at University at Albany, SUNY.  Mr. Rangel also holds an L.L.M. in International Finance from Harvard Law School.

William G. Rich leads Kharon’s operations in the greater Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. He also globally manages Kharon’s relationships with government and regulatory entities as well as research institutes. Since 2018, he has been an adjunct faculty member of Columbia University in New York.

Rich served from 2015 to 2018 as the U.S. Treasury Attaché to the United Arab Emirates and Oman, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s senior-most representative to the largest financial center in the greater Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Immediately prior to joining Kharon, Rich was a Visiting Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York where he studied issues at the intersection of technology, finance, and national security. His analysis and commentary have been published by The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and WIRED.

Rich previously worked in senior policy positions in the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crime at Treasury. Prior to Treasury, he served in a variety of U.S. government counterterrorism roles both domestically and overseas. Rich completed his undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Wael Qahoush is the Head of Compliance and BSA Officer at FAB USA.  His primary role is to oversee the Compliance function of the Branch from a regulatory and financial crimes perspective. This includes managing, developing, implementing and administering all aspects of the Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Program.  He also acts in an advisory role on a number of regulatory matters facing the bank and ensures that the branch staff receive the appropriate training and awareness as it relates to regulatory requirements and financial crime.

Wael has over 24 years of banking experience. He spent 9 years in various roles as a Senior Relationship Manager, Vice President – Wholesale Banking in the Internal Audit Division, and most recently as the Head of Compliance for Wholesale Banking and International, with NBAD UAE.   Prior to that, Wael held several positions with GE Capital and Wells Fargo Bank and Fremont Investment and Loan in the Default Management and Risk Management areas.

Wael holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters of Arts degree in International Affairs from California State University, Sacramento, CA.  Wael also holds an International Certificate in Banking Risk & Regulation from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and is ACAMS certified.

Wael Qahoush is the Head of Compliance and BSA Officer at FAB USA.  His primary role is to oversee the Compliance function of the Branch from a regulatory and financial crimes perspective. This includes managing, developing, implementing and administering all aspects of the Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Program.  He also acts in an advisory role on a number of regulatory matters facing the bank and ensures that the branch staff receive the appropriate training and awareness as it relates to regulatory requirements and financial crime.

Wael has over 24 years of banking experience. He spent 9 years in various roles as a Senior Relationship Manager, Vice President – Wholesale Banking in the Internal Audit Division, and most recently as the Head of Compliance for Wholesale Banking and International, with NBAD UAE.   Prior to that, Wael held several positions with GE Capital and Wells Fargo Bank and Fremont Investment and Loan in the Default Management and Risk Management areas.

Wael holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters of Arts degree in International Affairs from California State University, Sacramento, CA.  Wael also holds an International Certificate in Banking Risk & Regulation from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and is ACAMS certified.

Fatma has more than 24 years of experience. She has worked at both national and international banks/ institutes in Risk Management and other business units which gave her a rounded off view / experience in handling different banking products.

Fatma is currently heading financial consumer protection department at the central bank of the UAE with main responsibility of a regulatory mandate for the monitoring and supervision of Market Conduct. 

Prior to that she was head of international Retail Risk Management & Mortgage Risk at ADIB.

Fatma holds a higher diploma in International Banking and Finance and a Bachelors in Business Science from the Higher Colleges of Technology, in addition to a Masters in International Business Law from Sorbonne University.

Hafedh is a director in PwC Financial Services Consulting practice with over of 15 years of experience in leading and successfully delivering end to end regulatory compliance transformation programs for banking clients operating in United Kingdom and MENA region.

Hafedh is specialized in regulatory compliance and Financial Crime Compliance, Risk transformation (Corporate Governance and Internal Controls), Regulatory reviews, Business transformation (Operation payments, Business Process Review, Organizational re-design and implementation) and Data analytics.

Hafedh holds a Master’s degree in Banking and Capital Markets and is a Chartered Public Accountant and Certified Internal Auditor.

Wael Qahoush is the Head of Compliance and BSA Officer at FAB USA.  His primary role is to oversee the Compliance function of the Branch from a regulatory and financial crimes perspective. This includes managing, developing, implementing and administering all aspects of the Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Program.  He also acts in an advisory role on a number of regulatory matters facing the bank and ensures that the branch staff receive the appropriate training and awareness as it relates to regulatory requirements and financial crime.

Wael has over 24 years of banking experience. He spent 9 years in various roles as a Senior Relationship Manager, Vice President – Wholesale Banking in the Internal Audit Division, and most recently as the Head of Compliance for Wholesale Banking and International, with NBAD UAE.   Prior to that, Wael held several positions with GE Capital and Wells Fargo Bank and Fremont Investment and Loan in the Default Management and Risk Management areas.

Wael holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters of Arts degree in International Affairs from California State University, Sacramento, CA.  Wael also holds an International Certificate in Banking Risk & Regulation from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and is ACAMS certified.

Overall 12+ years of hands-on experience with 6+ years of experience in Compliance in Banking.

Presently leading the Business conduct related matters for FAB including its international network of 17 countries in the Gulf, Africa, Asia, Europe and America regions, managing the framework mitigating conduct risks via policies, procedures, risk assessments, training and monitoring of controls. Responsibilities also includes advising on various conduct risk elements as well as the involvement of implementing the Regulatory framework providing guidance to businesses on key regulatory matters as required. 

Sarine held positions in audit and business advisory fields in legacy National Bank of Abu Dhabi. She worked with Ernst & Young providing risk-based advisory services including internal audits and related assessments catering to the needs of entities in various industries majorly those in government, public/semi-public sectors in UAE.

Sarine acquired BSc in Computer Science and Management from McGill University and MSc in International Business Administration from SOAS University of London with various professional certifications such as CIA, PMP, CAMS, Int’l Advanced certification in AML from ICA and others related to Banking risks and regulations and Moody’s Analytics.

Nassir has worked in the banking industry in the UAE for 14 years with experience in branch sales and operations, product management and compliance.

In his current role he acts as the compliance advisor to FAB’s sales and distribution network as well as the Marketing and Customer Experience functions advising on both financial crime and regulatory aspects of business. This also includes acting as a trainer on compliance awareness and culture within the organization.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Abu Dhabi University and is a Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist.

Haseeb Ansari is the Chief Compliance Officer at Emirates Islamic (part of the Emirates NBD Group) and has more than 24 years of international banking experience, which includes management of Regulatory and Financial Crime Compliance frameworks. He has extensive experience in dealing with regulators, industry bodies, correspondent banks and vendors. He has been an active member in the Compliance community and currently, he is the Secretary of the UAE Banks Federation (UBF) Compliance Committee.

Prior to joining Emirates Islamic, Haseeb was the Chief Compliance Officer at United Arab Bank and previously, he completed more than 9 years at Barclays Bank PLC, where his last assignment was the Regional Head of Compliance for the Middle East. He originally started his career at Citibank N.A., managing a diverse spectrum of functional portfolios for over a decade.

Mr. Rangel is responsible for ADIB’s Compliance framework in UAE, together with other jurisdictions where the bank operates.  His remit includes compliance regulatory reporting obligations, financial crime, testing and assurance, anti-bribery and corruption, whistleblower, as well as managing the relationship with regulators, international law enforcement agencies and correspondent banks.

Previously, Mr. Rangel held senior roles in GCC regional banks, including Chief Compliance Officer at National Bank of Bahrain and Deputy Chief Compliance Officer at Bank ABC, Bahrain.  Before that, he was responsible for Global Financial Crime Compliance Advisory, EMEA at JPMorgan, UK.  He also served independently as a Compliance and Regulatory Reporting Adviser, Sweden.  Mr. Rangel enjoys a career in compliance spanning 30 years designing and implementing compliance programs for banks, financial institutions, corporate clients, multinationals and the public sector in 35 jurisdictions.

Mr. Rangel graduated as an Attorney-at-Law from UANL’s Law School and received an M.P.A. in Public Finance and Securities from Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at University at Albany, SUNY.  Mr. Rangel also holds an L.L.M. in International Finance from Harvard Law School.

Rasha Mortada is a compliance professional, with 24 years of experience in the banking and finance industry with leading global and local institutions.

Over 16 years of experience in the compliance field covering multiple roles & responsibilities including Regulatory Compliance, Anti Money Laundering/ Counter Terrorist Financing, Sanctions, FATCA/Common Reporting Standard and Conduct Compliance covering Wholesale, Retail, Private, Brokerage, & Asset Management businesses.

She holds a bachelor degree in Banking and Finance from the Lebanese American University. CAMS certified and holding an International Diploma in Compliance from the International Compliance Association, and a Fintech qualification from Harvard.

Wael Qahoush is the Head of Compliance and BSA Officer at FAB USA.  His primary role is to oversee the Compliance function of the Branch from a regulatory and financial crimes perspective. This includes managing, developing, implementing and administering all aspects of the Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Program.  He also acts in an advisory role on a number of regulatory matters facing the bank and ensures that the branch staff receive the appropriate training and awareness as it relates to regulatory requirements and financial crime.

Wael has over 24 years of banking experience. He spent 9 years in various roles as a Senior Relationship Manager, Vice President – Wholesale Banking in the Internal Audit Division, and most recently as the Head of Compliance for Wholesale Banking and International, with NBAD UAE.   Prior to that, Wael held several positions with GE Capital and Wells Fargo Bank and Fremont Investment and Loan in the Default Management and Risk Management areas.

Wael holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters of Arts degree in International Affairs from California State University, Sacramento, CA.  Wael also holds an International Certificate in Banking Risk & Regulation from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and is ACAMS certified.

In her current role, Julia leads the Financial Institutions business for Middle East & Africa region @ IDEMIA. She has been in the Middle East for close to 10 years and has a deep understanding of the financial service sector in the region.

With almost 17 years’ experience in the financial services sector, across various geographies, Julia has a successful track record of leading international teams towards growing new businesses in “challenging” markets such as CIS and Russia.

Julia graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Modern languages from the University of Oxford.

Pankaj has over 20 years of experience Banking and Financial Services, working in various countries, including India, Bahrain, Egypt and UAE. In his current role as Regional VP, Pankaj drives the growth in India, Middle East & Africa Region and supports enterprise customers to derive the most benefits from IDEMIA’s Digital solutions.

He joins IDEMIA from Mashreq Bank, where he was the Regional Head of Payments. In his previous role, Pankaj grew Mashreq Bank’s payment business with innovative product launches including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Alipay in the region.

In addition, Pankaj has been on the Union Pay International Regional Board for the last three years and also served as the chairman of the UAE UBF (UAE Banking Federation) committee of Acquirers.

Pankaj holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and is a regular speaker on regional payment ecosystem conferences. An avid golfer, Pankaj resides with his family in Dubai, UAE.

Wael Qahoush is the Head of Compliance and BSA Officer at FAB USA.  His primary role is to oversee the Compliance function of the Branch from a regulatory and financial crimes perspective. This includes managing, developing, implementing and administering all aspects of the Bank Secrecy Act Compliance Program.  He also acts in an advisory role on a number of regulatory matters facing the bank and ensures that the branch staff receive the appropriate training and awareness as it relates to regulatory requirements and financial crime.

Wael has over 24 years of banking experience. He spent 9 years in various roles as a Senior Relationship Manager, Vice President – Wholesale Banking in the Internal Audit Division, and most recently as the Head of Compliance for Wholesale Banking and International, with NBAD UAE.   Prior to that, Wael held several positions with GE Capital and Wells Fargo Bank and Fremont Investment and Loan in the Default Management and Risk Management areas.

Wael holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters of Arts degree in International Affairs from California State University, Sacramento, CA.  Wael also holds an International Certificate in Banking Risk & Regulation from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and is ACAMS certified.