Six key figures helping to shape the consumer banking sector in Qatar: Philip King, Ahmad Meshari, Ali Rashid al-Mohannadi, Louis Scotto, Robin McCall and Raju Buddhiraju
Philip King
Position Assistant general manager, retail banking, International Bank of Qatar (IBQ)
Biography Philip King has worked in the retail banking, wealth management and consumer finance sector for more than 20 years, gaining experience in Europe, Latin America and several Gulf countries. In 2001, King joined Citigroup as country business manager for its consumer banking group in Poland. He moved to Saudi Hollandi Bank in 2006 to become general manager of the consumer banking division. This included responsibility for retail banking, personal finance and wealth management operations. He joined IBQ in 2008, after being seconded from National Bank of Kuwait. He has also worked for Bankers Trust in New York and Milan, NatWest in the UK, Citigroup in London, Brussels, Madrid and San Paulo, and ABN Amro in Brazil. King has a degree in modern languages from the UK’s Bristol University and a master of business administration from London Business School.
Contact Tel: (+974) 4 447 8000
Ahmad Meshari
Position Acting chief executive officer (CEO); head of retail banking; general manager, business domestic group, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB)
Biography Ahmad Meshari is spearheading QIB’s strategic goal to open 35 branches by 2012. As part of that strategy, he overhauled the bank’s operational framework of branches in 2009. Meshari was appointed acting chief executive of QIB in October 2010, following the resignation of Salah al-Jaidah. As head of the retail arm of Qatar’s largest Islamic bank, Meshari has worked on the launch of several new products. He has also been instrumental in raising QIB’s Qatarisation levels to 28 per cent, for which the bank received an award from the GCC Labour Ministry in late 2010. Meshari has a degree in banking and finance from the University of Kuwait and a master of business administration from the University of Ottawa in Canada. He started his career working in financial planning for the government of Qatar, before moving into banking.
Contact Tel: (+974) 4 440 9409
Ali Rashid al-Mohannadi
Position General manager, retail banking, Qatar National Bank (QNB)
Biography Ali Rashid al-Mohannadi was appointed head of retail banking for QNB in 2008, putting him in charge of the largest retail banking franchise in Qatar. The bank has a network of 44 branches, including three mobile offices, and operates 11 Islamic branches in Qatar. The bank’s international presence includes Sudan, the UK, France, Kuwait, Singapore, Oman and Yemen. Al-Mohannadi is also overseeing the bank’s expansion into Lebanon and QNB has recently acquired a controlling stake in a bank in Indonesia. At QNB, Al-Mohannadi sits on the group information technology committee, group business development committee, group infrastructure committee and group human capital committee. Al-Mohannadi is also responsible for the bank’s wealth management and high-net-worth client banking service QNB First.
Contact Tel: (+974) 4 440 7777
Louis Scotto
Position Head of retail banking, Doha Bank
Biography Louis Scotto has worked in the retail banking sector for the past 36 years, spending nearly 20 years at banks operating in the GCC. He began his career at Citigroup in 1974, where he was instrumental in developing the bank’s retail operations in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Greece, Turkey and Italy. Scotto has also worked for other regional banks, including Saudi Arabia’s Riyad Bank, the UAE’s Emirates NBD and National Bank of Kuwait. At the latter two, he played a key part in creating their retail banking franchises. Scotto joined Doha Bank in August 2009 and is responsible for the bank’s retail operations in Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait, and for Doha Islamic, the bank’s Islamic arm. Scotto has a bachelors of science and a master’s degree in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, as well as an executive management certification from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.
Contact Tel: (+974) 4 445 6000
Robin McCall
Position Acting CEO, Al-Khaliji
Biography Robin McCall has 15 years of banking experience. He joined the UK’s Barclays Bank in South Africa in 1999 and managed a portfolio of large clients, before moving to the bank’s London office to act as relationship director. In 2003, he was hired by the UK’s HSBC and a year later was appointed head of corporate and institutional banking for sub-Saharan Africa. He joined Al-Khaliji in March 2009 taking over as acting chief executive. McCall is currently in negotiations with International Bank of Qatar to merge the two banks, a deal that would create the fourth largest bank in Qatar, in terms of total assets, and quickly expand the retail operations of both banks. McCall is a graduate from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and began his career with Netherlands-based Finansbank in 1990 as a foreign exchange dealer, before moving to South Africa’s Nedbank in 1992.
Contact Tel: (+974) 4 494 0000
Raju Buddhiraju
Position Head of retail banking services, Commercial Bank of Qatar
Biography Raju Buddhiraju joined Commercial Bank of Qatar, the country’s largest private bank, in August 2008 and is in charge of the retail banking arm. He is currently leading the bank’s drive into the car finance sector and trying to increase the bank’s share of public-sector customers. Buddhiraju has more than 20 years of banking experience, including 13 years with Citigroup in India. He also worked for the US bank in Singapore and Hungary. From September 2002 to August 2008, Buddhiraju was general manager of retail and consumer banking at Saudi Arabia’s Arab National Bank. Prior to this, he was senior vice president of marketing at Poland’s Bank Handlowy, now part of Citigroup. He has a bachelor of technology in Petroleum Engineering from the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad and a master of business administration from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta.
Contact Tel: (+974) 4 449 0000
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