Sumit Aggarwal 
Amol Bahuguna 
Isaac Thomas 
Madhavan Rajagopalan 
Haroon Anwar 
Hein Jan Smit 
Syed Masharif Shah 
David Martínez de Lecea 
Katharine Budd 
Nameer Khan
Nameer Khan, Middle East's Top 50 Fintech Influencer & Founding Board Member, MENA FINTECH ASSOCIATION
Nameer is a dynamic young leader in the insurance industry with blended expertise in information technology, media and logistics. He believes in creating the future and using technology for social good. His core expertise includes data analytics in Fintech, Insurtech, and partnering with technology providers and various stakeholders together to manage and drive technology culture.
Syed Masharif Shah, Head of Transaction Banking, Dubai Islamic Bank
Mr. Masharif Shah’s diversified exposure includes Corporate, Commercial and Transaction Banking. He has an in depth understanding of and exposure to the Transaction Banking business segment and has a proven track record of growing and expanding portfolios within this strategic area.
In addition to his experience in formulating and implementing business growth strategies, Mr. Shah has also been closely involved in business governance and has the experience of contributing significantly towards operational risk management.
Mr. Masharif Shah has worked at global financial institutions such as Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank and is currently the Head of Transaction Banking at Dubai Islamic Bank in UAE.
Sumit Aggarwal, EVP- Head of Transaction Banking Services, Emirates NBD
Sumit is a seasoned professional with 28 years of experience in Asia, Europe and Africa with a strong- track record in end-to-end business management of Transaction Banking Services. He has previously held various senior positions in both Sales and Product Management across Cash, Trade and Securities Services based out of India, UK and Singapore. Before joining Emirates NBD, he was responsible for Transaction Banking Services in South East and South Asia for Standard Chartered based out of Singapore.
Mr Howard Mannella, Managing Principal, Alternative Resiliency Services
Howard Mannella is a thought-leader and executive in organisational resiliency, business continuity, disaster recovery, crisis management and related disciplines, and with his role as managing principal, he helps clients in many sectors to reduce risk. He was formerly principal resiliency strategist for Expedia, where he established the global program that covered over 5,000 people in a dozen locations across North America and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He spent most of his career in banking and capital markets.
Mr David Gyori, CEO, Banking Reports
David Gyori is a globally renowned FinTech consultant, trainer, author and keynote speaker. He is CEO of Banking Reports Ltd London, providing top quality ‘FinTech Training for Bankers’ all over the world. In addition, Gyori holds a number of key international positions: He is founding member of the World FinTech Association as well as member of the panel of judges of the European FinTech Awards. He is co-author of ‘The FINTECH Book’, published by Wiley and Sons in 2016, quickly becoming a global category best-seller. Gyori is faculty member of the Retail Banking Academy (London), one of the most prestigious banker-training facilities globally. He serves on the advisory board of multiple FinTech companies in the United Kingdom.
Madhavan Rajagopalan, Unit Head – Trade Sales, Global Transaction Services-CIBG, National Bank of Fujairah PJSC
Madhavan is currently Unit Head-Trade Sales in Global Transaction Services (GTS) Segment which is part of Bank’s Corporate & Institutional Banking Division. He has over 25 years of Banking and Trade Finance experience in UAE and Qatar. Prior, he was in Products & Channels Department of the Bank as an Executive-Trade Finance Products and he was responsible for developing & managing Trade Finance products and introducing process improvements. He was formerly Head of Trade Operations for Qatar’s Al Khalij Commercial Bank where he was responsible for developing Trade Finance procedure & processes and also forming its Trade Services team.
Dinis Guarda, Author and CEO, Founder lifesci, life science
Dinis is the Founder and CEO of LifeSci - a P2P, blockchain, AI technology PAAS solving life science solutions for today’s problems. Dinis is an author, founder and CEO, specialised in Strategy, Digital transformation, Blockchain solutions, AI, Fintech, Crypto economics/ ICOs Evangelist. He is an expert in cutting edge breakthroughs in fintech, life science, green energy solutions, regulatory and block swan risk scenarios using the best strategies, AI, big data and distributed ledgers. Prior, he was the Co-founder bank and first CMO and Chief Commercial Officer Fab Banking (Fidelity Asia Bank.He is a guest lecturer at Copenhagen Business School, Cambridge University, Group INSEEC - Monaco University. Between 2014 and 2015 he was involved in creating a digital bank and investment platform between Asia and Africa funded by among others Rothschild family. He is also co-founder of the project BlockchainAge - a blockchain research and tech - digital / influencer platform, book and film - with Derin Cag, and Romain Witonski. He is the author of the following books: “The Next Tsunami: Blockchain plus AI, IOT with the new Crypto Economics”, “How To Map Who You are,”, and “Innovating in a Forever Recession”
Haytham El Maayergi, EVP, Global Head of Transaction Banking, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
Haytham is the Global Head of Transaction Banking in ADIB leading a multi-country team across sales, product development and service. Before joining ADIB, Haytham’s prior assignment was with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) where he was Managing Director and UAE Country Head of Global Transaction Banking while also managing the GTB Regional Sales Heads for MENA region. Haytham possesses 24 years of professional banking experience and has held several key roles around the region, starting with Societe Generale, and moving to Citi where he was Country Head of Global Transaction Services for Egypt, UAE and Iraq, in addition to heading client coverage for Multinationals and Financial Institutions.
Haroon Anwar, SVP, Head Transaction Banking, Emirates Islamic Bank
Haroon heads the Transaction Banking business at Emirates Islamic and is responsible for managing Sales and Product Management of Trade Finance and Cash Management Services for Corporate and Institutional clients. Prior to joining Emirates Islamic, Haroon held leadership positions with Salesforce.com, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, ABN AMRO, and BMO Bank of Montreal. With over 20 years of financial services expertise in Asia and the Americas, he specializes in commercial banking, international trade finance, treasury management services and digital banking. He is passionate about digital transformation in banking, Algorithmic Commercial Lending, and Trade Supply Chain Finance.
Hein Jan Smit, CRO InvestBank UAE
Hein comes with over 20 years international banking and risk management experience. He started his career in 1997 with ABN AMRO Bank in the Netherlands. Following various risk management related assignments with focus on the international credit portfolios he was transferred to Singapore in 2004 to set up the Risk Review Asia function and head the regional risk review team (focus on 16 Asian countries portfolios) including Middle East. In 2010 he moved to China (Shanghai) to continue his career as CRO for RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) to lead the risk function for RBS Bank, China (8 branches and 850 staff). In 2012, he continued his career in Asia as CRO with the largest bank in Brunei, BIBD Bank and successfully set-up and led their risk management function. In addition, he led several other strategic projects for BIBD like obtaining their first external credit rating (A-) through Standard & Poor’s and setting up their Singapore Office. In 2018 Hein started as CRO for InvestBank in UAE.
David Martínez de Lecea, CTO, Brite Advisors
David is a CTO at Brite Advisors, with extensive experience through over 8 years helping leading financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies and regulators in business strategy, restructuring, M&A and financial technology (fintech). His expertise includes artificial intelligence and Blockchain. He was previously involved with Finerd, an automated investment management firm, as Chief Executive and Investment Officer. He was also involved with Bain & Company, Delta Partners, Deloitte and Accenture. His experience spans Europe, America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East and has invested in 3 fintech startups in Europe and the Middle East. His comments are regularly sought by Financial Times, Thomson Reuters, Global Islamic Economy Summit, and Expansion.
Sanjay Khanna, Chief Information Officer, RAK Bank
Sanjay Khanna joined RAKBANK in September 2011 as Chief Information Officer where he is responsible for high quality services to the Bank from the technology department, and maintaining an appropriate level of technological infrastructure within the bank. Prior to joining RAKBANK, Sanjay served as Deputy General Manager at ICICI Bank Ltd, and has experience at National Bank of Oman and Deutsche Software (India).
Mr. Amol Bahuguna, Head of Payments and Cash Management, Commercial Bank of Dubai
Mr. Amol Bahuguna, Head of Payments and Cash Management, Commercial Bank of Dubai Amol Bahuguna is the head of payments and cash management at Commercial Bank of Dubai. He has over 22 years of experience in diversified industry verticals, including wholesale banking and delivering significant growth in payments and cash management business across diverse customer segments through financial facilitation, advisory and efficient operational execution. Bahuguna has extensive knowledge in delivering cash management solutions across South Asia and Middle East, and has worked with local and international banks. He joined Commercial Bank of Dubai in 2015, leading of several initiatives, including UAE's first Treasury and Cash Management Best Practice Handbook. In this conference, he will share his views on the cash management developments today and where they will lead the industry.
Isaac Thomas, Head of Transaction Banking Group, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Isaac Thomas is the Head of Transaction Banking Group at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. He has over 26 years’ worth of banking experience through banking technology and cash management/transaction banking in different international banks such as Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank and Deutsche Bank across different international markets. He is currently responsible for the transaction banking business in ADCB, which has been a key differentiator for the bank in recent WBG business mandates, especially in the Corporate and Government sector.
Ehsaan Ahmed, Head of Global Transaction Services & Corporate Strategy, Noor Bank
Ehsaan joined Noor Bank in 2007 to establish the transaction banking business in line with the new bank’s objectives of being a leading player in the Islamic financial services industry. In his current role, he oversees all cash management, trade and financing solutions, product sales and service delivery for Corporate Banking Group. Since inception, several Noor Bank transaction banking solutions have received industry and client recognition for being innovative and best in class. Ehsaan also supports strategy and implementation of key franchise initiatives such as ‘Noor Awqaf’ for which he is also the interim General Manager. He has earlier helped restructure the SME business proposition for significant growth under the ‘Noor Trade’ brand. Prior to Noor Bank, Ehsaan has worked with Citigroup and ICI and handled country and regional roles across Europe, Middle East & Africa covering business development, product and sales management, investment banking and quality implementation.
Katharine Budd, Co- Founder, NOW Money
Katharine has an international experience in technical and commercial roles across financial services and retail in blue-chip and start-up environments and she is the Co-Founder of NOW Money. NOW Money provides employers with payroll and an app-based account for every employee, no matter what their salary level. The employee receives their salary on the app, has full access to their transaction history, can top up mobile credit and importantly, remit money to family overseas - all from the convenience of their smartphone.
Venkata Surya Prasad Indraganti, Head of Transaction Banking, Commercial Bank of Qatar
Venkata Surya Prasad Indraganti is the Head of Transaction Banking at Commercial Bank of Qatar, Doha. He has been at this role since June 2015. Previously, he was employed in the same capacity at Riyad Bank in Saudi Arabia. He has been a banker for the past three decades, his experience spanning across cash management and trade finance in the Middle East and India. He has been in a leadership role for the past 25 years.
Congressman Barney Frank, Former Chairman of House Financial Services Committee, United States Congress
Congressman Barney Frank is the former chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee between the turbulent global financial crisis years of 2007–2011. As one of the sponsors of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, also known as the Dodd-Frank legislation, his efforts at closing the gaps in financial oversight such as creating a financial stability council, finding ways to liquidate systemically important firms, and strengthening the financial system against further shocks, were crucial for the recovery of the US financial services industry. Congressman Frank is also credited with many grassroot initiatives, including creating a low-income housing tax credit in the 1980s. He is widely respected by chairmen and CEOs of banks in the US, regulators, and fellow lawmakers.
