ICAEW - the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales - has recently welcomed four leaders of the UAE’s finance industry to its Corporate Finance Faculty (CFF) Middle East panel of experts. The new members will deepen the knowledge of the group as ICAEW works to make CFF Middle East the leading network of thought leaders in the region’s financial industry. 

The CFF hosts four panel discussion events in the region annually- three in the UAE and one in Saudi Arabia – where panellists and attendees discuss hot topics about the global and regional business landscape. The new CFF panel members are some of the biggest names in the region’s finance industry:

  • Mike Littlewood – Regional Sector Head, Professional Services at HSBC MENAT
    • With vast understanding in corporate finance, Mike’s experience is highlighted in his previous appointments as Leadership Coach and Managing Director for the Royal Bank of Scotland, in addition to senior roles at Ernst & Young for almost a decade including Director of Corporate Banking.
  • Nick Beer - Chief Financial Officer at Transguard
    • With a well-established career in the financial sector thanks to two decades of appointments with firms including Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PWC and Barclays, Nick joined Transguard in early 2019. Most recently the CFO of Abu Dhabi Terminals, Nick has been in the UAE for six years and has also worked in Qatar and Monaco.
  • Ossama Kayed - Head of Capital Markets at KPMG
    • Ossama has been working within KPMG member firms in the Middle East and South Asia region since 2000. In 2006, he moved to Transaction Services from the audit team of KPMG in the UAE and currently leads the UAE firm’s Capital Markets services.
  • Salmaan Khawaja – Partner for Transaction Advisory Services at Grant Thornton UAE
    • As a skilled corporate finance professional with over 14 years of experience, Salmaan has acted as lead advisor across a range of international transactions involving companies across North America, the Far East, Europe, the Middle East, Pakistan, India and South Africa. 

Commenting on the new appointments, Michael Armstrong FCA, ICAEW Regional Director, Middle East, Africa and South Asia, said: “We are pleased to welcome these extremely talented and experienced new members to our CFF panel as they join to add depth to our expertise and further strengthen the panel’s credentials. The panel is the voice of corporate finance for companies, advisers and investors across the region.

“By bringing conversations that matter to the fore, we aim to contribute to policy development, practical initiatives and help drive innovation across the region’s business landscape. In a rapidly changing world, proactive discussion of key business topics and collaboration between international organisations, governments, regulators and other professional bodies is crucial for the continued development of economies.”

With more than 7,000 members and 80 member organisations worldwide, the CFF is the largest network of professionals involved in corporate finance including chartered accountants and others involved in advisory, investment and business.

Previous topics explored by the CFF in recent events include: 

  • Managing liquidity challenges and raising capital in the GCC
  • How advances in technology have positively impacted the speed of deal execution in the GCC
  • Challenges and opportunities presented by Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cyber and Data, the ABCD of technology
  • How Saudi business is evolving to support a thriving economy
  • A forecast of the region’s economic landscape, deal pipeline and investor appetite in 2019

The current chair of the panel is Sam Surrey - Partner, Middle East Financial Advisory Transaction Services at Deloitte. A qualified ICAEW Chartered Accountant, Sam has lived and worked in the Middle East since 2009 and has specialised in Transaction Services for 19 years. Other existing members of the panel include: Andrew Tarbuck - Partner, Head of Capital Markets at Al Tamimi & Company; Richard Dingle – Partner, Transaction Support Director at Ernst & Young; Romil Radia, Middle East Deals COO and Markets Leader at PwC; Irfan Said, Corporate Finance & Investment Banking Head at Samba Capital; and Rania Fathallah, Managing Director at FEB Capital.

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About ICAEW 

There are over 1.8m chartered accountants and students around the world – talented, ethical and committed professionals who use their expertise to ensure we have a successful and sustainable future.

Over 181,500 of these are ICAEW Chartered Accountants and students. We train, develop and support each one of them so that they have the knowledge and values to help build local and global economies that are sustainable, accountable and fair.

We’ve been at the heart of the accountancy profession since we were founded in 1880 to ensure trust in business. We share our knowledge and insight with governments, regulators and business leaders worldwide as we believe accountancy is a force for positive economic change across the world.

© Press Release 2019

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