H.E. Dr. Alwaleed ALSHEIKH was appointed as the Executive Secretary of MENAFATF starting from 1st of January 2017. He is currently leading the MENAFATF Secretariat, which is headquartered in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Dr. ALSHEIKH has a PhD in Economics from the University of Manchester, UK, and worked previously in the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency as Director of Banking Supervision Department.

Axel Threlfall is Editor-at-Large, Reuters, based in London. Alongside his editorial duties, he hosts high-profile engagements and thought leadership events for and on behalf of Reuters and Thomson Reuters, such as the Newsmaker series and the World Economic Forum news show in Davos. He was previously Lead Anchor for Reuters Digital Video. Prior to joining Reuters, Axel spent four years as an anchor for CNBC in London. Before that, he was an editor with The Wall Street Journal in New York and a news reporter for Bloomberg in London. He has also advised businesses and NGOs on their dealings with the international media. Axel is frequently asked to moderate events for international organizations, including the United Nations and the OECD. He has a BA in History from Durham University and a postgraduate degree in journalism from City University, London.

After reading Modern History at Jesus College Oxford, Chris Parry served in the Royal Navy as an aviator and warfare officer. As well as sailing every sea, he experienced regular operational tours and combat operations in Northern Ireland, the Gulf and the Falklands, where he was decorated for rescuing 16 SAS troopers from a glacier in South Georgia and disabling the Argentinian submarine SANTA FE.

He commanded the destroyer HMS GLOUCESTER, the Amphibious Assault Ship HMS FEARLESS, the UK's Amphibious Task Group and the Maritime Warfare Centre. He also held five senior Joint and UK Ministry of Defence appointments, with responsibility for the strategic development, policy, effectiveness and operational deployment of all three armed forces out to 2030.

Nowadays, he runs his own strategic forecasting and trouble-shooting company, advising governments, leading commercial companies and banks about geo-political and strategic realities, future trends and systemic risk. The founding Chair of the UK's Marine Management Organization, he is an internationally recognized authority on the maritime sector and sanctions regimes, as well as the countering of terrorism, criminality and unconventional opponents.

A regular broadcaster and commentator in national and international media, he is an active author, most recently with the influential 'Super Highway: Sea Power in the 21st Century'. He has a PhD in behavioural psychology and is a Visiting Fellow at several universities and think tanks in the UK, the US and Europe.

David is currently Global Partner Director for Financial Crime and Compliance, based in the Refinitiv global Head office in London, UK.

He previously spent 6 years based in the Middle East, most recently acting in the role of Head of Market Development - Risk (Middle East & North Africa), responsible for the market strategy for the Refinitiv Risk business. He has also acted as Group Secretariat of the MENA Financial Crime and Compliance Group (MENA FCCG) since September 2016.

He is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), and holds a Diploma in Financial Crime and Compliance and brings over 13 years experience in his field of expertise. He specialises in areas such as Ultimate Beneficial Ownership, Adverse Media, Sanctions and Watch List Data as well as legislation including FCPA, UK Bribery Act and global AML and KYC standards.

David has extensive market experience having worked with prominent financial institutions, governments and multinational companies both in Europe and across the Middle East and North Africa.

Ernst Pienaar is the Global Head of Content Specialists at Refinitiv World-Check and is responsible for all risk data inclusion policies, legal matters and knowledge management within World-Check. Ernst also acts as the lead Content Professional for the World-Check product for client and regulator engagements as it relates to international sanctions, law and regulatory enforcement matters, Politically Exposed Persons compliance and financial and related crime screening.

He is the former Global Head of Research for Financial Crime and Reputational Risk activities at Thomson Reuters World-Check. In this capacity he was responsible for the management of the then 5 global World-Check Research centers (Santiago, Washington DC, Cape Town, Singapore and Penang) tasked with the creation and update of the World-Check and related risk databases for over 245 countries and territories in over 65 local languages. He assumed responsibility for managing the World-Check global research team in 2009.

Ernst joined World-Check in 2009 from the Sanlam Life Group where, over a ten year period, he was the Head of Forensic Investigations and Group Money Laundering Reporting Officer. Previously he was a Senior State Advocate with South Africa's Office for Serious Economic Offences, and began his career as a State Prosecutor in Johannesburg. He holds a Master's Degree in Constitutional Law, and LL.B and B.lur law degrees.

2015 - Present Expert at United Nations Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267/2253

July 2012- July 2015 Director of Legal Affairs Directorate at Jordanian Financial Intelligence Unit with 15 years of experience in addressing the countering financing of terrorism and sanctions regime on Al-Qaida & affiliates. Zubi has been a member of the United Nations Security Council Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, established pursuant to UNSCR 1526 (2004) and 1904 (2009) concerning Al-Qaida, Taliban, and associated individuals & entities, with a long field experience in counter terrorism, and related legal challenges.

1997 to 2012 Jordanian General Intelligence Department (GID) Chief of Counter-Terrorism Center, oversaw a large budget and numerous programs in Cyber Terrorism operations and Countering Financing of Terrorism.

Through the AML/CFT Unit membership in the National Technical Committee for the Implementation of Security Council resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1373 (2001), which supervises and monitor National efforts in CFT & freezing assets of sanctioned individuals and entities, as a committee Deputy Chair, Zubi developed the capacity to coordinate all national capabilities and measures to strengthen the Jordanian implementation of UN Security Council 1267/2253 Sanctions regime

Hazem Mulhim's background is multilayered, established through a career spanning 35 years in international markets. After his graduation from Bulgaria with a Master's degree in Electronics Engineering and Medical Electronics, Mulhim began his professional career working at Siemens in Kuwait in 1980, where he experienced firsthand how computing was starting to transform the health industry.

As the digital revolution was just starting worldwide in the early 1980s, he took a decision to get closer to the epicenter of innovation, moving to the US to work. There, he would accentuate his entrepreneurial vision and develop a deeper insight into the emerging technologies and markets. Later in 1984, he moved to Jordan to establish what now is, EastNets.

In 2007, EastNets acquired SIDE International, a leader in AML solutions based in Belgium. This expansion strategy worked and soon EastNets was serving a 750-strong client base.

Mulhim's acute vision and industry insight would help EastNets secure multiple prestigious international awards and in one recent case achieving leadership in one global compliance industry vertical.

Mulhim had also continued his academic drive, earning a Certificate of Advanced Management Program (AMP) from the prestigious Institute of INSEAD, France, and an OWP from IMD Lausanne, Switzerland.

Ibtissem Lassoued has extensive experience advising international clients on a spectrum of complex, multijurisdictional white collar crime issues, including but not limited to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, global economic sanctions, anti-corruption issues including the extraterritorial effect of the US FCPA and UK Bribery act, extradition and INTERPOL notices, and Capital Market investigations. Ibtissem offers clients a full and practical knowledge of the remit of inter-governmental organizations, in particular in relation to the FATF and MENAFATF, and the effect of these on anti-corruption efforts, confiscation of the proceeds of crime, de-risking and the reporting of suspicious transactions.

Ibtissem has been ranked as Band 1 in Chambers Global for Corporate Investigations for four consecutive years since the category's inclusion and is commended for being 'most effective' and 'stunningly good at what she does'. She was also included in Financial News' list of the 50 Most Influential Women in Middle East Finance in 2019.

Jesse Spiro is the Global Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Chainalysis, an organization that builds trust in blockchains between people, businesses and governments. Chainalysis products and services power compliance and investigations related to virtual currencies for the world's top institutions.

In his role he engages directly with global governments and regulatory bodies on risks and emerging regulation in the blockchain ecosystem. Previously he was the Head of Threat Finance and Emerging Risks for Thomson Reuters/Refinitiv, where he oversaw global engagement and research on threat finance (terrorism, proliferation, cyber crime, organized crime, smuggling, trafficking).

He is a 2018 National Security Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a member of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) Financial Threats Council, and sits on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Human Trafficking Task Force. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park.

21 Years banking experience in different banks (SAMBA, SABB Al-Rajhi & Bank Saudi Fransi). Specialized in Banking Internal Control, Financial Crimes, Financial Risk, Fraud Investigation & Compliance.

MBA holder UK - Southampton.

Weekly economic writer at Riyadh Newspaper.

Currently Working as Head of Regulatory Compliance Division in Bank Saudi Fransi.

Mr. Nikolajsen joined Alawwal bank as Managing Director in January 2017. He was a member of the bank's Board of Directors from January 2014 and the Executive Committee from September 2015.

Following completion of the merger between Alawwal bank and Saudi British Bank in June 2019, Mr. Nikolajsen was appointed Deputy Managing Director of the combined bank with responsibility for Integration and Transformation.

Mr. Nikolajsen has been on the Board of Wataniya Insurance Company and Alawwal Invest since February 2017.

Prior to joining Alawwal bank, Mr. Nikolajsen held various senior positions with The Royal Bank of Scotland in London and Hong Kong, including Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Investor Relations for Asia Pacific, and Head of Executive Office, Corporate & Institutional Banking.

Mr. Nikolajsen has over 30 years of international banking experience. He is an alumnus of London Business School and Copenhagen Business School from where he has a Bachelor degree in Foreign Trade.

Lyndsey has worked across the U.S. Government, most recently as Acting Financial Attaché to the UAE and Oman, where she represented the economic, financial, and national security interests of the United States. Lyndsey's portfolio included highly sensitive, top foreign policy priorities - including the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, which Lyndsey managed with great diplomatic skill.

Prior to her time representing Treasury in Abu Dhabi, Lyndsey served as a policy advisor in Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, with a portfolio covering the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa, and as a TFI representative to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Preceding Treasury, Lyndsey was a senior consultant in Deloitte's Business Intelligence Services, where she supported federal law enforcement clients focusing on third party money laundering, illicit trade and illicit finance investigations. Lyndsey also served in various policy offices within the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.

Lyndsey holds an M.A. from Webster University in International Relations and a B.A. in Government and International Politics from George Mason University.

Nipun leads the financial crime compliance practice at Deloitte Middle East. He has more than 16 years of professional experience in helping his clients effectively and efficiently respond to business challenges arising out of regulatory and compliance events. He often works with the regulators in helping define new frameworks aimed at regulating the growth, security and stability of the financial sector. He has also advised a number of leading financial services firms including some of the largest global and regional banks, asset management companies, and money exchange houses amongst others.

In his current role at Deloitte, Nipun leads some of the firm's highest profile and complex regulatory compliance, financial crime risk assessment, customer remediation and AML/transaction monitoring transformation programs. He also leads multi-disciplinary teams in regulatory due diligence at Deloitte advising CXOs entering new jurisdictions by helping align business aspirations to the local market dynamics and regulatory expectations.

Nipun regularly speaks at conferences and publishes articles on topics of regulatory importance. Nipun's passion is to enhance the role of automation and machine learning in fighting financial crime and improve regulatory compliance. He is excited at being at the forefront of some of the disruptive changes defining the role that latest digital techniques in the areas of FinTech/RegTech play in the financial services sector.

Mr. Fayez was appointed Managing Director & CEO of Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) in February 2018.

Prior to assuming the leadership of BSF, Mr. Fayez held the role of CEO of Savola Group from 2016 to 2018. Mr. Fayez was previously the Managing Director and Saudi Arabia Senior Country Officer at J.P. Morgan. Prior to that, he held senior positions at Goldman Sachs' Saudi and London offices. Mr. Fayez started his career at J.P. Morgan's Natural Resources Investment Banking team in New York.

Mr. Fayez is a member of the boards of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), Hassana Investment Company, Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) and Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company (SALIC). Mr. Fayez is also a member of the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders.

Mr. Fayez graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering.

Tom Keatinge is the Director of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at RUSI, where his research focuses on matters at the intersection of finance and security, including the use of finance as a tool of intelligence and disruption. He has a Master's in Intelligence and International Security from King's College London, where his research focused on the effectiveness of the global counter-terror finance regime. Prior to joining RUSI in 2014, he was an investment banker for 20 years at J.P. Morgan.

Vishal heads the Customer Success and Sales team for Governance, Risk and Compliance solutions for MENA at Refinitiv. Vishal is a seasoned technology leader with 15+ years' experience in domains like risk, Regulatory compliance, Fraud and Financial Crime, E-Fx, Customer Analytics, Information Management and Business Intelligence.

Vishal has consulted various public and private organizations in Middle East, Africa and India increasing their adoption of technology to solve business challenges. Vishal is a Software Engineering & holds an MBA in Marketing with special interest in Angel investment in Technology start-ups in the field of Artificial intelligence, Big Data and Machine Learning.

Mr. Wissam H. Fattouh became the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks in November 2010. In this role he leads the largest banking consortium in the region and the sole representative of the Arab banking community, which aims at the development and advancement of the banking and financial markets, in addition to the cross-border relations and exchange of expertise with international counterparts.

Mr. Fattouh is an expert in Arab and International banking and financial sectors, acquired from over 25 years of experience in this domain and through extensive and close relations with MENA Region, Europe and United States of America, in addition to regional/International financial and regulatory bodies.

Before his current position, Mr. Fattouh served as the Acting Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, Director of Conferences Department at UAB and Manager of Databank & Information Technology. He established the new line of technical Forums that excelled for its scientific importance and established a number of Professional Groups and Associations, Group of Certified Compliance Officers (GCCO), Group of Certified Risk Managers (GCRM) in MENA Region, in addition to initiatives for dialogue between the Arab Banking community with its counterparts from Turkey, the European Union and United States. The Turkish-Arab, EU-Arab and US-Arab banking dialogue initiatives cover matters of laws and regulations, investment, trade including Basel recommendations, AML/CFT acts, FATCA, De-risking, Correspondent banking and others.

Mr. Fattouh has overseen the development of the UAB to the highest standard of professionalism while using advanced technologies and relying on the best human resources. He managed to transform the UAB into an internationally renowned organization with a say on the international banking and financial fronts.

Ahmed Alkholifey is Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (Central Bank of Saudi Arabia). He obtained his Bachelor Degree in Law from the King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Master in Business Administration and Ph.D. in Economics from Colorado State University, USA.

He started his career at the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources as Legal Specialist and then as Economic Researcher. Mr. Alkholifey joined the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority in 1995 and worked as Economic Advisor and Director General of Economic Research and Statistics Department. In 2011, Mr. Alkholifey was appointed Executive Director for Saudi Arabia at the International Monetary Fund and worked there until 2013, when he was appointed Deputy Governor for Research and International Affairs at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority. In May 2016, he was appointed Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority.

Abdulaziz Alabeedy is the Head of AML/CTF Policies in the AML/CTF Department at Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA). After spending nearly a decade working in AML/CFT, Mr. Alabeedy gained a diverse experience in this field such as inspection leading, making policy, risk assessment, training and awareness. Furthermore, Mr. Alabeedy participated in the project of aligning the AML/CFT framework of KSA with International Standards & Implementation before FATF Mutual Evaluation of the country.

Mr. Alabeedy had been a member of the Anti Money Laundering Permanent Committee (AMLPC) for around two years since August 2015. During that time, he led the ML NRA Team as well as the AML Technical team of the AMLPC. Now, Mr. Alabeedy is an observer member of AFCML Committee & AML/CFT Team for the Banking Sector.

Mr. Alabeedy holds MBA in Organizational Leadership and BBA in Financial Management.

Adel AlQulish is a Senior Advisor to the Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) and Vice-Chairman of the Anti-Money Laundering Permanent Committee (AMLPC). Before joining SAMA again in 2017, Mr. AlQulish was appointed at the end of 2004 as the first Executive Secretary of MENAFATF, which is located in the Kingdom of Bahrain where he was responsible for coordinating member countries' efforts in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, the oversight of the process of mutual evaluation of member countries, and oversight of the training and typologies efforts with member countries with the aim of promoting international AML/CFT standards.

During his tenure, MENAFATF became an associate member of the Financial Action Task Force, as it managed to accomplish remarkable achievements. A number of member countries were evaluated in the AML/CFT context, having the recognition and appreciation of the quality of the evaluation reports. He also led the efforts with the World Bank and the IMF to provide member countries with their TA needs. Joint assessors training and other training events were successfully undertaken in cooperation with international bodies, including the FATF, WB and the IMF.

Mr. AlQulish began his career in the private sector in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and later joined SAMA with the responsibility for onsite supervision of financial institutions to insure their compliance with the Saudi Laws and other requirements.

Mr. Ammash Al Abthani is Chief Information Security Officer in samba financial group, leading all information security functions for samba and its subsidiaries, he has over 15 years' experience in cybersecurity in telecom and financial sectors.

Mr. Ammash is member in multiple international security institutes and has multiple globally recognized certificate such as CISSP and CISA. He has established Information security management systems in more than organization as well as security operation center.

Husam Al Mahmoud is the Director of Payment Systems & Companies Control "PSCC" at Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority "SAMA". PSCC regulates, licenses, supervises and oversees payment companies, which includes payment systems and payment service providers, in the Kingdom.

Husam is SAMA's representative in regional and international payment committees. He joined SAMA in 2003 as a system analyst in Banking Technology Department. Since 2008, he has spent many years with payment system policy and oversight areas including domestic and reginal systems. Husam holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas and a bachelor degree in Information System from King Saud University.

• 21 years of extensive experience in various fields of banking such as Retail Banking, Credit Cards, Operations, Compliance Advisory, Regulatory Compliance, Anti-Fraud, Customer Complaints and AML & CTF.
• Participated and chaired different committees in SAMA and currently serves as the Chairman of Anti-Financial Crimes & Money Laundering Committee in SAMA.
• Strong personal commitment to the development of Compliance Governance and Ethics.
• Contributed and developed AML & CTF training programs and public awareness initiatives.
• Holds a Bachelor Degree in Economics and Business Administration.
• Banking Leadership Program diploma from Michigan Ross School of Business / Executive Education, The University of Michigan.

Mohamed was appointed as Customer Success and Proposition Sales Director for Risk and Enterprise Middle East and Africa (MEA) as of Jan 2019 and is responsible for shaping the strategic vision of this quickly growing and fast moving segment. He joined Refinitiv (Reuters at that time) in 1995 and since that time has moved across multiple roles in project management, training, technical management, operations, and sales management.

In his previous role as Head of Government and Corporates, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), he successfully integrated large Corporates with Banks using straight through trade processing to streamline FX and MM liquidity. Mohamed has also served as the Regional Business Leader in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Iran for the Financial & Risk business.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, and is fluent in English and Arabic. He is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Mr. Mohammed serves as consultant and the general director of anti-money laundering /combating terrorist financing department within the Ministry of Commerce and Investment. Mr. Mohammed is acting as the director of the financial investigation department within MOCI. He is also member of the Saudi Arabia's Anti-Money Laundering Permanent Committee since 2013.

Mr. Mohammed has over 5 years' experience in combating money laundering/terrorist financing in DNFBP's by applying AML law/ CTF law and the FATF recommendations. He has been responsible for preparing the Ministry of Commerce and Investment for the mutual evaluation by FATF since April 2016.

Holds a Bachelor's Degree in mechanical engineering from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals and a Master degree in ME and another master degree in engineering management (double major). Both are from the University of Bridgeport in the U.S.

Saad Aljebren is Head of AML/CTF Supervision in the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority. He is an advanced practitioner in the areas of risk management, effective supervision, efficient resource allocation, and strategic planning. One of his most important achievements is his contribution to SAMA's supervisory team, which managed to achieve a "substantial" rating score in the field of AML/CTF supervision according to the FATF assessment report of Saudi Arabia, which has become among the five countries that achieved this rating in the world. He has a BA degree in business administration/ Finance from King Saud University (KSU).

Mr. Eduardo Rangel is the Chief Compliance Officer at National Bank of Bahrain. Mr. Rangel is a seasoned banker with ample experience in cross-border banking and compliance spanning for over 30 years; during such tenor he has advised banks, financial institutions, broker dealers, ultra-high-net-worth family offices, funds, money service businesses, third party payment processors, disruptors, global corporates, central banks and governments in 35+ jurisdictions. Mr. Rangel previously held senior roles at JPMorgan at their European headquarters in London, UK and at Bank ABC at their regional headquarters in Bahrain, where he led the transformation of their respective compliance functions.

Mr. Rangel’s trademark pragmatic approach distinguishes him for his ability to engage with the business from inception of key projects and group-wide initiatives. Mr. Rangel believes that compliance can change and influence the way firms work only through partnerships with relevant stakeholders. Such close engagements help embed a compliance culture that actually stays in the firm’s ethos.

Mr. Rangel is an attorney-at-law from the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon’s Law School and received a Master in Public Administration (M.P.A.) in Public Finance and Securities from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the University at Albany, State University of New York and a Master in Laws (L.L.M.) in International Finance from Harvard Law School. Mr. Rangel is a member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) and currently serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Committee of International Standards at the Bahrain Association of Banks. As a subject matter expert in cross-border compliance Mr. Rangel regularly participates at international conferences, including at the UN, OECD and IMF events.

Naif Alajmi is an executive advisor and legal expert (Head of Anti -Money laundering and Counter of financing terrorism) at Capital Market Authority. Mr. AlAjmi joined CMA in 2007 as Inspection & Compliance Officer and Legal Advisor for Authorization & inspection Dept. by participating to prepare inspection with CMA team and carry out various activities related to the effective supervision and monitoring of intermediaries to comply with CMA Implementing regulations, provide legal consultation to Inspection Dept., participating in FATF assessment and other governments committees and drafting related CMA regulations in this matter.

During his service at CMA he joined the World Bank Group Global Secondment Program in 2016 as Senior Financial Sector Specialist / Legal Expert in Finance & Markets, Market Financial Integrity Unit where he were participated to advise countries on developing and enhancing AML/CFT compliance policies and programs, with a special emphasis on the securities sector, assist in the creation and delivery of technical assistance and capacity building programs with and provide legal assistance to the legal frameworks and private bodies.

Before joining CMA Mr. AlAjmi worked as Legal Researcher in General Authority for Competition in 2006. He holds Masters degree in international Business Law from University of Central Lancashire in UK.