Biography: With nearly two decades’ experience in the Saudi financial services market, Fahad Almubarak chairs US investment bank Morgan Stanley’s Saudi operations, Morgan Stanley Saudi Arabia. A former general manager of local investment house Rana Investment Company, Almubarak founded The Capital Group in 2001, which entered into a joint venture with Morgan Stanley in 2007. He has served as a member of the Majlis al-Shura (Consultative Council) for the past six years, acting as vice-chairman of the council’s economic and energy committee, and played a decisive role in orchestrating the privatisation of Saudi Telecom in 2002. Almubarak is a member of the board of directors of telecoms company Mobily. He is a former assistant professor at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals in Dhahran and holds a degree in civil engineering.

• Contact Tel: (+966) 1218 7006

Biography: A former director of HSBC’s Saudi private banking operations, Ahmed al-Khateeb left HSBC in 2005 to launch Jadwa Investment, a Saudi Arabia-based, sharia-compliant investment house that provides services to institutional and individual investors. Al-Khateeb was behind the June launch of a new index, the Russell-Jadwa Index, of 2,700 securities from more than 60 countries, specifically for Islamic investors. Since it was awarded its licence in August 2006, Jadwa has focused on the high net worth individuals market, building up the sixth-largest portfolio of assets under management of any financial institution in the kingdom. Despite difficult market conditions, Jadwa’s brokerage doubled its market share in 2008, generating trade volumes of SR12bn ($3.2bn), with a strategy of carefully targeting clients.

• Contact Tel: (+966)1279 1111

Biography: One of the longest-standing investment managers in the kingdom, Beshr Bakheet heads the independent joint-stock investment services company Bakheet Investment Group. Prior to setting up the group in 2005, Bakheet had run Bakheet Financial Advisors since 1993, where he helped develop investment products for Saudi banks. Bakheet Investment’s Saudi Trading Equity Fund, a sharia-compliant fund investing in Saudi stocks, has been one of the strongest performers in the kingdom. A graduate of Ohio University, Bakheet stood in the kingdom’s first municipal elections in 2005 under the slogan “every riyal in its proper place”, stressing the importance of accountability in public life. He has argued forcefully that the kingdom needs to develop a long-term investment culture, to supersede the current day-trade-dominated market.

• Contact Tel: (+966) 1 419 1797

Biography: A veteran of 22 years at Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank (NCB), Ahmed Farid previously led the asset management division before joining the bank’s investment banking arm, NCB Capital, in 2007. With $14bn worth of assets under management, NCB Capital is a major player in the Saudi capital market. Farid’s aim is to make NCB Capital the leading investment bank and asset management house in the region. NCB was the first Saudi bank to introduce mutual funds and has developed an array of sharia-compliant investment products over the past year. It has also formed a strategic partnership with the biggest investment bank on Wall Street, Goldman Sachs, which involves co-operation across a broad range of business areas in or relating to Saudi Arabia. In 2008, NCB acquired Dubai-based The Capital Partnership, a specialist asset manager to both institutional and high net worth clients.

• Contact Tel: (+966) 1273 3696

Biography: Omar Jaroudi started his career in 1984 with the Saudi French Bank. With 25 years’ experience across the banking sector, including helping to set up Beirut-based investment bank Lebanon Invest in 1995, Jaroudi joined Shuaa Capital’s Saudi unit in 2007. Shuaa Capital Saudi Arabia is a joint venture of UAE-headquartered Shuaa Capital and several prominent Saudi businessmen. Having obtained its licence to operate in 2007, Jaroudi has made research a focus of Shuaa’s Saudi efforts, offering macro, sector and company specific analysis. In August 2008, Shuaa launched the first Saudi-domiciled private equity fund, the Saudi Hospitality Fund I, aiming to acquire or develop five-star and budget hotels in the kingdom. Jaroudi holds a master’s degree in economics from Syracuse University in New York, and a degree in business administration from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon.

• Contact Tel: (+966) 1291 0070

Biography: Under the leadership of Adeeb al-Sowailim, Falcom Financial Services has emerged as one of the strongest of the new Saudi investment houses. The sharia-compliant investment house was formed by Al-Sowailim in January 2007, and in January this year launched what it claims is the GCC’s largest Islamic equity index, Falcom Shariah Index, licensed by the Tadawul. The index covers 112 companies that comprise nearly 78 per cent of the Tadawul All-Share Index. The index allows investors to review the market position of their portfolios before the market opens. Alongside its brokerage services, Falcom offers asset management and investment banking services and manages six investment funds. Al-Sowailim secured a deal in March with the Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) to provide financial advisory services for Saudi industrial companies. 

• Contact Tel: (+966) 1201 1280

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