Tareq al-Malki

Position: Chairman, Al-Khaleeji Bank
Biography: Tareq al-Malki has been chairman of Al-Khaleeji Bank since the institution was established in 2007, and is one of the emirate’s most influential bankers. Al-Malki acts as a financial adviser to Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani. He joined Qatar Fertilizer Company (Qafco) in 1988, taking responsibility for the company’s marketing and commercial business. In 1997, after nine years at Qafco, he joined Qatar National Bank as a manager in its corporate banking division. Within two years he became assistant general manager. In 2003, Al-Malki left QNB to work on his own business ventures and take up his government adviser role. He is a board member of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Qatar Financial Markets Authority and real estate firm Qatari Diar. Al-Malki holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from St Martins College in Washington, US.
Contact Tel: (974) 494 0000

Salah Jaidah

Position: Chief executive officer (CEO), Qatar Islamic Bank
Biography: Salah Jaidah took on his current post as CEO of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) in June 2005. Prior to this appointment, Jaidah was general manager at Doha Bank for four years. He held several senior positions at the Commercial Bank of Qatar during his 13 years at the company, including assistant general man-ager, which he took up in 1994. Jaidah is director of family-owned conglomerate Al-Jaidah brothers, head of the Indo-Qatari Joint Business Council, a member of the Qatari-British Association of Business and a member of the committee of Qatari-Bahraini Potential Bank. He also sits on the board of QInvest, European Finance House (EFH), Asian Finance Bank (AFB), Al-Jazeera Islamic Company and Aqar Real Estate, among other institutions. Jaidah holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing and finance from the Texas Christian University.
Contact Tel: (+974) 440 9409

R Seetharaman

Position: CEO, Doha Bank
Biography: R Seetharaman has more than two decades of experience in banking, information technology and consultancy. He was appointed CEO of Doha Bank in September 2007, replacing Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Mohammed bin Jabr al-Thani. Prior to joining Doha Bank, Seetharaman held senior management positions in three banks in Oman before moving to Doha to take up the post of assistant general manager in 2002. He started his professional career at international consultant Price Waterhouse & Associates in India. Seetharaman is a chartered accountant and holds certificates in corporate management and IT systems. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Madras. In his six years as CEO, he is credited with transforming Doha Bank into one of the best performing banks within the region, increasing its market share from 4 per cent to 24 per cent.
Contact Tel: (+974) 445 6600

Ali Shareef al-Emadi

Position: Group CEO, Qatar National Bank
Biography: Ali Shareef al-Emadi has been group CEO of Qatar National Bank (QNB) since 2007. Al-Emadi is overseeing a period of international expansion for QNB. In August 2008, the bank announced the acquisition of a 23 per cent stake in Dubai-based Commercial Bank International, worth about $273m. QNB was established in 1964 as the country’s first Qatari-owned commercial bank. The ownership structure is divided between the government of Qatar (50 per cent) and private investors through the Doha Stock Exchange (50 per cent). Al-Emadi is the founding chairman of investment company QNB Capital, which received regulatory approval to operate from the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority in 2008. He has served as a director of Qatar Telecom since 1999. He also sits on the board of directors of Kuwait’s Wataniya Telecom and Qatar-based Al-Shareef Enterprises.
Contact Tel: (974) 440 7777

Hussain Ibrahim al-Fardan

Position: Managing director, Commercial Bank of Qatar
Biography: Hussain Ibrahim al-Fardan was the main force behind the establishment of the Commercial Bank of Qatar in 1975. He has been managing director since the bank’s inception and is one of the Gulf’s wealthiest businessmen. Al-Fardan is a member of one of the leading merchant families in the Gulf and chairman of Qatari conglomerate the Al-Fardan Group, and the United Development Company. At the age of 18, he joined the Doha branch of the Ottoman Bank (now Standard Chartered Bank) but left three years later to set up a jewellery business in 1954. In 1970, he established a network of money exchange and finance offices, Alfardan Exchange, diversifying from the company’s pearl and jewellery trading base and recognising the need for workers to remit wages outside the Qatari banks’ short working hours.
Contact Tel: (974) 449 0000

George Nasra

Position: Managing director, International Bank of Qatar
Biography: George Nasra is on secondment at International Bank of Qatar (IBQ) from National Bank of Kuwait (NBK). Nasra began his career at NBK in 1979 as executive manager. In 1985, he started his 13-year tenure at NBK’s New York office as its general manager, returning to Kuwait in 1998 as group general manager for investment banking, asset management and treasury, a position he held for seven years. Throughout his four-year tenure as head of asset management, the bank’s assets under management grew from $4bn to $7bn. He was also responsible for NBK’s private equity investment programme, which to date has invested more than $400m in privately owned companies and funds in the US, Europe and Asia. Prior to joining NBK, Nasra was manager of credit and marketing at Chase Manhattan Bank in Jordan for three years.
Contact Tel: (+974) 447 8000