Fintech Surge

Amnah Ajmal is the Executive Vice President, Market Development, EEMEA for Mastercard. In this role, she is responsible for acceptance, acquiring, merchants, digital partnerships, fintech’s, strategy and M&A for the region. Prior to this role she led the North America product organization, based out of the US, responsible for the development and management of consumer and small business payment solutions, including credit, debit, prepaid, small business and acceptance solutions, with a focus on creating sustainable competitive differentiation for Mastercard and its customers.
Amnah joined Mastercard in 2015 as Head of Products for Middle East & Africa where she focused on driving innovation across consumer and commercial payments based on technology, partnerships and delivering digitally integrated consumer experiences.

Prior to joining Mastercard she was heading the consumer bank franchise for Standard Chartered Malaysia responsible for end-end P&L. She was also responsible for retail banking strategy for Indonesia, Malaysia & Taiwan in a global role based out of Singapore. Prior to Standard Chartered, Amnah worked at Citigroup in UAE, Egypt, UK and Poland. She held a number of positions at Citigroup including Asset Business Head for Poland responsible for full range of consumer asset products, innovation and distribution including credit cards, co brands, personal loans and mortgages.

She was honored to be listed as the top 100 women in Fintech, across the globe, for 2019 by Lattice80 and recognized as the top 25 women leaders in financial technology by the Financial Technology Report US for 2019 & 2020. She was recently recognized as the top 100 women in fintech, across the globe, for 2021 by IBM & Fintech magazine. She also holds the honor of being in America’s top 10 women in Fintech by the Fintech Magazine for 2020.
She holds a master’s degree from London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE).

Ahmed Abdelaal is chief executive officer of Mashreq Bank Group, a leading financial institution in the United Arab Emirates with an expanding footprint across the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the US. With more than 25 years’ experience in banking, Mr Abdelaal was previously group head of corporate and investment banking at Mashreq Bank. He has also served in senior roles across international and regional banks, including Arab Bank, ABN AMRO Bank and American Express. Most recently he spent ten years at HSBC Middle East, where he was regional head of corporate clients coverage and head of commercial banking UAE.

CEO with over 25 years of experience in technology for the Fintech sector. He has a strong record of releasing business products for different financial sectors, including Investment Banking, Money Remittances, Crypto Exchange and trading platform for FX and CFD companies. Vladimir is the former VP of Engineering at Deutsche Bank and CTO of Exness. Under Vladimir's leadership, Armenotech became a technology lead for new fintech companies and has a portfolio of products to facilitate launch of new business in a short time for CFD/FX trading, Copy Trading, Payments Processing, Web3 tokenization for engagement.

Arik Shtilman is CEO and co-founder of Rapyd, the leading fintech-as-a-service platform powering local payments anywhere in the world by bringing together 900-plus payment methods in over 100 countries. Arik founded Rapyd in 2016 with a singular goal in mind: to help businesses thrive in any local market around the globe.

Prior to starting Rapyd, Arik realized there was a massive need to create a way for fintech applications to scale globally so businesses could invest in expansion – not spend critical time attempting to build complex payments infrastructure. To solve this glaring challenge hindering growth in the payments space, Arik launched Rapyd as the first “Fintech-as-a-Service” product in the industry, the category-leading full stack of integrated payments, commerce and financial services capabilities that can be seamlessly embedded into any application. Now, by partnering with Rapyd, businesses and consumers anywhere in the world can easily engage in local and cross-border transactions in any market.

Before Rapyd, Arik founded ITNAVIGATOR, a cloud-based contact center and unified communications platform which was acquired by Avaya in 2013. Arik’s expertise in building high-growth companies leveraging cutting-edge technologies to meet global customer demand is proven in Rapyd’s fast-paced yet steady growth. Since Rapyd’s launch in 2016, Arik has taken the company global with offices in Dubai, Tel Aviv, London, San Francisco, Singapore, Reykjavik, and Miami, to name a few.

Esraa Gamal is the Chief Operating Officer of Telr, the UAE based award winning payment gateway solutions provider. Gamal spearheaded many products for Local and International markets which helped classify the company as an e commerce best in class technology solutions provider for big, small and medium sized enterprises, focusing on growing markets across the Middle East and North Africa in addition to the Indian market. Gamal has a Bachelor of Science in Economics & Political Science from Cairo University, Egypt.

David Lin is the Anchor and Producer for Kitco News. He has interviewed CEOs of NYSE and NASDAQ-listed companies, heads of central banks, finance ministers, mining executives, fund managers, analysts, and political leaders, covering commodities, fintech, mining, economics, and cryptocurrencies. He has covered and moderated presentations at some of the world’s preeminent business, crypto, and tech conferences, include the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai, Bitcoin Miami, Paris Blockchain Summit, Collision 2022, DCentral Miami, VRIC, and PDAC. Prior to joining Kitco, he worked as a macroeconomics researcher at BCA Research, where he focused on global ETF portfolio construction. David graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Finance

Peter Englund developed a passion for emerging markets early in his career. Being an active ambassador for growth and development – and in setting high standards for himself and people around him – he has led numerous businesses in both dynamic and challenging environments. Together with his high performing teams, he constantly looks for ways to bring out the best in himself and people around him – a trait originating from his time as squad leader in a Swedish Attack Diving unit.

The Middle East & Africa region has a special place in his heart, and is also where he has spent most of his professional career. He is currently based in the Dubai International Financial Center, where he heads up Zurich’s regional commercial activities. In addition to his current role, Peter also remains active in giving back to a region that has been good to him and his business. He mentors start-ups and InsureTech companies; is an active speaker and contributor at industry specific and regional events; and also gives frequent lectures to foster Middle Eastern talent development.

Peter brings a wealth of expertise and experience in the areas of commercial insurance and reinsurance, investment management, financial lines propositions and Middle Eastern geopolitics. He is a Swedish national and holds a Master’s Degree from the Royal Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the Stockholm School of Business

Hussein Mohammed Al Meeza is an acclaimed award-winning banker with over 45 years of experience spanning the Islamic banking, finance and insurance sectors. A founding member of Emaar properties, Amlak Finance, Emaar Industries & Investments, Emaar Financial services, Dubai Islamic Insurance & Reinsurance Company (AMAN), Nawat, he was named Best Islamic Banking Personality in 2006. His professional career began in 1975 at the Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), where he spent over 20 years developing the bank’s services, and still serves as Executive Director.
As an emerging star of Islamic banking, he is the founder of Al Salam Banks in Sudan, Bahrain and Algeria, where he serves on various positions including Board Member, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Executive Committee since 2015. He is also the Chairman of Al Salam Bank - Seychelles, Chairman of Top Enterprises L.L.C., Chairman of Lycée Francais Jean Mermoz L.L.C. Hussein Al Meeza excelled as CEO and Managing Director of Dubai Islamic Insurance and Reinsurance Company (AMAN), Chairman of LMC Bahrain, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Islamic Trading company in Bahrain, Board Member and Chairman of the Executive Committee in Amlak Finance Dubai and Chairman of Emaar Financial Services Dubai, Vice Chairman of Emirates Cooperative Society Dubai. He also served as Board Member of the General Council of Islamic Banks and Financial Institutions, Chairman of the Founding Committee of Islamic Insurance and Reinsurance Companies. He also held the position of Board Member of the Emirates Society for Insurance. Mr Al Meeza served as Chairman at Nawat Investments and Amity Health in Dubai, as well as Board Member of Al Salam Bank Bahrain and Chairman at Al Salam Bank Seychelles. Hussein Al Meeza is a graduate of the Beirut Arab University and holds an MBA degree from La Jolla University, USA.

Mai Santamaria heads up the Financial Advisory team in the Department of Finance, Ireland. She is responsible for research into topics of interest in the Financial Services sector. She co-authored the Department’s discussion paper on Virtual Currencies and Blockchain, published in March of 2018. She leads the department’s Blockchain Working Group and is a member of Blockchain Ireland. Mai has more than 20 years’ experience in the finance private sector, having worked with Barclays, Zurich, Rothchild, GE and PwC. She is a fellow of the Irish Institute of Chartered Accountants and a native of Barcelona, Spain

Khaled Albasias is director of the financial sector development at the Saudi Central Bank. Before joining SAMA, Khaled was CEO for a financial technology company, he is an experienced banker with well over 17 years of experience. Khaled holds a master degree in computer since from DePaul University and attended leadership development program at the University of Virginia

Brian is the Head of Technology and Data Governance at the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). He works to develop the fintech ecosystem in the UAE by driving new regulatory initiatives and key technology infrastructure projects that improve the adoption of fintech. Prior to joining ADGM, Brian was responsible for macroprudential supervision of the banking system at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, paying particular attention to SME financing conditions, as well as data governance and architecture at both MAS and the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office in Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Office.

Mr. Khamis Buharoon AI Shamsi is a world-renowned expert in global finance that has built a solid reputation at the Central Bank of UAE, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and other leading financial institutions. Between 2007-2021 he dedicated his career to ADIB, serving as Managing Director, Member of the Board of Directors, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Acting CEO and Vice Chairman. With over 35 years experience, Mr. Al Shamsi has successfully led teams as the Head of the Settlements Committee, Member of the Executive committee, and Vice-Chairman of the Nominations and Remuneration Committee, among many other offices. Prior to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Mr. Buharoon Al Shamsi served as CEO of Commercial Bank International and Head of Domestic Banking Division at the National bank of Abu Dhabi. Mr. Buharoon contributed to establishing several top level investment firms, including Arqaam Capital Investment in DIFC, UIB in the Kingdom of Bahrain and Naeem Holdings in Egypt. In 2020 he joined as Chairman of the Abu Dhabi National Takaful Company Board of Directors, Mr. Khamis Buharoon was born in the United Arab Emirates and holds a B.A in Business and Accounting

Ersoy has worked 17 years in asset management for top Turkish banks & is currently a financial correspondent for Bloomberg HT in Dubai where he delivers financial market updates to investors about GCC markets & Asian markets. The topics he covers range from stock markets, currencies, commodities, fixed income, & also include such reports as mergers & acquisitions, business & social headlines relevant to the region. Ersoy regularly interviews distinguished guests regarding financial markets. He has a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Middle East Technical University & MBA from Bilkent University.

In her current role at the AMF, Dr Youssef provides support to Arab countries in fields of Fintech, digital financial transformation, and digital financial inclusion. Moreover, she initiated the creation and development of the AMF’s ‘FinxAr’ index – a regional fintech index to track the development of the fintech sector in Arab countries.
A regular speaker in international fora, Dr Youssef has co-authored numerous fintech publications related to the Arab region, such as Open Banking and Open Finance, CBDCs, Digital identity, eKYC and Customer On-Boarding, as well as the tri-lingual (Arabic, English and French) fintech glossary; in addition to delivering regular training sessions on topics including fintech and digital financial services.
Prior to joining the AMF in 2016 she spent almost 12 years as Deputy Debt Manager for the Ministry of Finance in her native Egypt.

Eng. Mohammed Alkaff AlHashmi is a computer science engineer with more than 18 years of experience. With this accumulative experience he focuses on Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, Industrial automation, and IOTs. He started his career as an Intelligence Network Engineer at Huawei. Other than the technology part, he has vast experience in Business and management. He is a serial Entrepreneur who believes in projects that have a purpose and could bring value to the community, so he started MCPM Automation in the MENA region that provides cutting edge techs to support Manufacturing, Smart Cities, Energy, Sustainability and Environment. At present he is the CEO of MCPM MENA, MCPM Holding and UI Ventures, he is also partner and board member of CYNAX labs, Kaptive, Co-Founder and Executive Board Member of IslamicCoin which considered one of the mega blockchain projects and others, taking care of the business development, growth and strategy. As Artificial Intelligence became an important pillar of Health technologies and R & D, Eng. Mohammed is also partner and a board member of Quant7 fund that invests in research and development within the medical and health care sectors, and blue ocean unique companies like Cellvera and Prepaire as well as finds opportunities for mergers and acquisition. Having a futuristic approach and unique perspective about things, he always believes in giving back to the society through his knowledge and by creating success stories. He is passionate about bringing top class technologies for the development of the region and thrives on making the Earth a better place to live.

As Head of Group Digital at Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF), Grant is accountable for defining and executing the Bank-wide digital vision and strategic initiatives across the organisation. Originally from, Scotland, UK, Grant has worked in several executive roles over the last 20 years spanning the technology, consulting and financial services industry in Europe and the Middle East. Prior to joining BSF in March’20, Grant held a partner position with EY where he led the Technology Consulting practice for the financial services sector across the MENA region. Grant is a regular public speaker and prominent voice at leading events across the region on the topics of digital banking, Fintech, Open Finance and adoption of disruptive technologies in the financial services sector

Gilbert Ohana is the Co-Managing Partner of FinTLV Ventures, a global insurtech-focused fund that partners with the best insurtech and fintech companies through all phases, with a bias towards later-stage deals. Recent investments include leading or participating in investment rounds in some of the most prestigious companies in these fields, including Hippo Insurance, Next Insurance, Unqork, Corvus, Wefox, and others. Before establishing FinTLV, Gilbert served 26 years in the Israeli Intelligence Corps and was the Chief Technology Officer of one of the leading technology units, leading the unit’s Technology Strategy, Cyber Security and Data Analytics programs, and Joint-Ventures with technology vendors in Israel, Europe, and the US. Gilbert is also an advisor to several financial companies and the Israeli ICT Authority on innovative technology strategies and risk management.

Nizam is Chief Strategy Officer of Algbra, a values-focused, sustainable and Shariah-compliant Fintech headquartered in London and regulated in the UK. Nizam was previously the Senior Head of Mosaic and Community Integration at The Prince’s Trust. He is a 2019 Greenberg World Fellow at Yale University and a 2019 US State Department International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) participant.

Nizam is currently Vice-Chair of the of SOAS, University of London Board of Trustees and a member of the Mayor of London’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Group. He holds an MA in Public Policy from King’s College London and was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours list for services to social mobility and community integration.

Analytics professional with over 20 years of experience in the analytics space. I am primarily working with large-scale enterprise data warehouses helping organizations across the globe to get business value out of their information assets. Responsible for AI, ML, Blockchain, RPA and advanced analytics processes in organization. He Successfully implemented Blockchain use cases in insurance and AI enabled damage estimator for claims settlement in Auto Insurance. He is a veteran of Big Data, AI & Blockchain, having created and led Data Science and Analytics teams. His experience in various companies including in the Fortune 100, having worked with India Infoline Group, Reliance General Insurance Ltd, EXL Services, Wunderman International, WNS & IBM. He has global experience with clients like British Gas(UK), Ford Motors(US), Suncorp Bank(Australia), TORM Shipping (Denmark) and holds a Bachelor of Engineering at Delhi college of Engineering, Delhi in India, an MBA (IT). Vivek Zakarde was named ‘Big CIO Leader 2019 & 2022”, "Top 100 CX leaders 2022", "Power CIO 2022", “BFSI Digital Innovation Leader by Express Computer & Dell 2020”, “CIO of the year of 2019 by IDG”, “Asia analytics leader of the year 2019 by Analytics India Magazine” and “Big 40 BFSI & NBFC” award winner.

Robson Albuquerque works for Nubank as a researcher and a cyber security specialist in the INFOSEC business unit. He has more than 25 years of experience in the technology field. His professional skills include IT consulting for public and private organizations in information security, cybersecurity and computer networks. He is a member of the Professional Post-Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering at the University of Brasília. He is also a member of the GASS research group at the University Complutense of Madrid. He has researched and worked for the last 20 years in topics related to information security, cybersecurity, and cyber intelligence. He authored and co-authored articles published in research conferences and journals around the world.

Walid's first venture into the entrepreneurial space was in 2018 where he co-founded a blockchain Insurtech that was later acquired. In November 2020, Walid co-founded Hala Insurance with one simple goal: Insure the millions living in the Middle East. Since then, Hala has been disrupting the sleepy insurance industry one policyholder at a time through affordable, quick, and online car and home insurance.

John Dourekas is Kitco's Media Division Director and Kitco's Digital Metals Group Chief Business Development Officer. He is responsible for all aspects of Kitco Media, including its programming, the division's expanding digital properties, mobile applications, editorial units, online assets, marketing, and overall operations. He leads media content, digital metals products, asset tokenization, business development operations, new product development, marketing, and the technology platforms and functions of the company's advertising sales and strategy worldwide. Since joining Kitco in 2008, John has orchestrated multiple ambitious IT, media, marketing, and digital metals strategies. John is an expert in complex transformations; he has lead content creation and oversight of media and distribution, crafted revenue-generating marketing strategies, developed programming, and negotiated key partnerships. John leads the VaultChain™ Gold and Silver products development for Kitco, one of the first precious metals trading platforms using blockchain technology, and Kitco.Gold is one of the first stablecoins backed by physical gold. Prior to joining Kitco, John spent 15 years in technology consulting, advising a variety of top global telecom clients on new product development, innovation processes, start-up strategy, information technology, and business issues. You can follow him on Twitter at @dourekas

Gaurang Shah is the EEMEA lead for Product & Engineering for Mastercard and passionately showcases how Mastercard leverages technology to build solutions and achieve exponential innovation that transforms industries, benefits economies, and positively impacts communities.
In his current role, Gaurang oversees the design, development and deployment of consumer, merchant, sme and b2b solutions. Gaurang in addition leads development and execution of product go-to-market strategies that enables customers to benefit from an expanding digital economy amidst the accelerating growth of digital and electronic payments. Prior to his EVP role, Gaurang was Mastercard’s Digital Payments and Innovation head for MEA and before that MENA Division Lead for Global Processing, focused on national ecosystem development. He also successfully led the region’s Safety & Security agenda by conceptualizing and executing the fraud solutions strategy. He has implemented several key initiatives across the region since joining Mastercard in April 2013. Gaurang brings 20+ years of experience in digitization, technology, banking and payments, working with global companies such as Infosys (large software exporter), ICICI Bank (India’s largest private sector bank), Visa and now Mastercard. He graduated from the Indian School of Business (affiliated to Kellogg’s, Wharton and London Business School) with a master’s degree in Business Administration, which he pursued soon after graduating top of his class as a chemical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

Olivier Crespin is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zand. Since taking on this role in 2018 he has focused on leveraging hybrid digital banking strategies to establish Zand as the first fully digital bank in the region to combine both retail and corporate banking. Crespin brings over 20 years of extensive expertise and leadership roles in digital banking and FinTech across Latin America, the USA and Asia. He recognises the need for a customer-centric approach to humanise the banking industry. Prior to Zand, Crespin has been an award-winning leader at CIMB Bank, DBS and Citigroup. Across those roles he’s led flagship programs into new markets including India and Indonesia and spearheaded the implementation of innovative technologies

Shaul is Head of Banking at Railsbank, a global banking as a service platform. In this role Shaul is responsible for developing the platform's network of banking partners and helping Railsbank and its customers reach more countries around the world.
Previously, as the UK Government's first Fintech advisor, Shaul collaborated with governments, innovative companies and financial institutions to accelerate innovation across industry verticals. At the Department for International Trade, Shaul helped build the UK Fintech ecosystem, cementing its global leadership position and supporting fintech companies' growing cross border business.
Earlier in his career, Shaul held various roles within retail banking technology and finance. He is also a basketball junkie.

Dr Ira is the founder of Fintech 4Longevity, a research and consulting community helping the financial sector be well prepared for the demographic trend of ageing. She is an expert in the economics of ageing with a particular focus on the role of fintech in improving the financial well-being of mid-life and older adults. In 2020, Ira joined a working group at the World Economic Forum on ‘Redefining Retirement’.
Ira is the founder of the International Financial Innovation for Ageing and Longevity Forum, an international forum which deals with the intersection of longevity, finance and technology. Her academic research deals with the effect of retirement and changing health on the economic outcomes of households within different pension and healthcare systems.
From 2008 to 2019, Ira served as a non-executive director to numerous public companies in Israel including the Bank of Jerusalem and worked previously as an accountant at KPMG.