NEWHORIZON

APPOINTMENTS
NEWHORIZON October–December 2010
On the move
International law firm Pinsent Masons has
strengthened its banking and finance service
offering with the appointment of Amir
Ahmad. Ahmad, who will be based in
Pinsent Masons’ Dubai office, will report to
Al-Harith Sinclair who heads the firms’ new
Islamic Finance practice. Together they will
work on three key areas – growing the
firm’s Islamic finance practice in London
and the Gulf; Gulf financial regulatory
matters and Gulf project finance and other
finance matters.
Ahmad, a
Senior
Associate, joins
Pinsent Masons
from DLA Piper
Dubai where he
was previously
part of Al-
Harith Sinclair’s
team. Ahmad
has 10 years of
finance-based
experience
gathered in the
Netherlands, Bahrain and Dubai.
Bahraini retail and commercial banking
institution, BMI Bank (BMI), recently
announced the appointment of Bahraini
Salah Khalifa to the position of Head of
Islamic Financial Services (IFS). Salah,
whose previous position was as a Director
of Investments and Capital Markets at First
Investment Bank (FIB), a Bahrain-based,
Shari’ah-compliant investment bank, will be
responsible for driving the IFS strategy.
In his previous role at FIB, Salah looked
after corporate finance and structuring,
asset management, treasury, financial
institutions and debt capital markets (sukuk
and securitisation). Prior to joining FIB,
Salah was the Head of Islamic capital
markets at Calyon Credit Agricole,
responsible for the development of Islamic
institutional banking in the region and
structuring and sales of Islamicised capital
market/debt capital markets products and
services. His prior posts included Head of
Islamic Financial Services Department of
BankMuscat, Bahrain branch and Manager,
Structured Finance at Al Shamil Bank.
EIIB (European Islamic Investment Bank)
has appointed Yaser Abduljalil Ali Alsharifi
to its board of directors as a non-executive
director effective from 27 July 2010. Mr.
Alsharifi is Managing Director, Investments,
at Al Rajhi Holdings and was previously a
partner at Ernst & Young, Bahrain. He is a
Certified Public Accountant and holds a
Bachelor of Business Administration
(Accounting), Cum Laude from the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst,
USA and an Associate Accounting Diploma
from the University of Bahrain.
International legal practice Norton Rose
(Middle East) LLP has announced that
Mohammed Paracha is to join the banking
practice in Bahrain as a partner and deputy
global head of Islamic finance. Mohammed
joins from Al Salam Bank-Bahrain B.S.C.,
where he was Executive Vice President and
Head of Europe. He previously spent three
years in Norton Rose Group’s London
banking team before working for two years
in the banking
team of the
Bahrain
practice.
Mohammed’s
appointment
further
strengthens
Norton Rose
Group’s Islamic
finance presence
in the Middle
East, following
the relocation of Global Head of Islamic
Finance, Neil D Miller to the Dubai office in
2009 and demonstrates its continuing
commitment to the Islamic financial sector.
Unicorn
Investment Bank
headquartered in
Bahrain has
announced the
appointment of
Mr Ikbal
Daredia as
interim CEO of
the Bank. Mr.
Daredia is the
Global Head of
the Bank’s
Capital Markets, Institutional Bank ing and
Treasury areas and has more 20 years of
experience of Islamic finance. having He was
previously Deputy CEO of Noriba, UBS’s
former global Islamic product plat form. Mr.
Daredia replaced Mr. Majid Al Refai, former
MD and CEO of Unicorn Investment Bank at
the beginning of August 2010.
Bahrain-based Ithmaar Bank has announced
the appointment of Mohammed Abdul
Rahman Bucheerei, a member of the
Ithmaar Board of Directors, as the Bank’s
Chief Executive Officer. He currently also
serves on the Board of Directors of the
Islamic Investment Company of the Gulf
(Bahamas) Limited, Faysal Bank Limited
(Pakistan), the Overland Capital Group
(USA) and Solidarity Group (Bahrain).
Bucheerei commenting on his appointment
said, ‘Ithmaar Bank heads one of the most
diversified financial services groups in the
Middle East. It is a formula that has worked
exceptionally well for the Group, but we
cannot afford to get complacent and,
following the Ithmaar-Shamil reorganisation,
our focus moving forward must be on the
efficient implementation of the Bank’s new
three-year strategic plan 2010–2012.’
30 IIBI
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