The Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association Announces New Appointments and Launches National Chapters

DUBAI, December 18, 2013 – The Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association (GBSA), the trade association representing the Arabian Gulf fixed income market, has announced a new Chair of the association’s Steering Committee. The GBSA also announced the creation of a new working group to further promote project finance within the region, as well as the launch of dedicated national chapters for Qatar and Kuwait.

Stuart Anderson, Managing Director and Regional Head, Standard & Poor’s Middle East, has been named the new Chair of the GBSA Steering Committee for 2014, succeeding Giambattista Atzeni, Senior Director, MEA & Turkey, BNY Mellon Wealth Management.

The announcements were made at GBSA’s annual gala dinner held in Dubai on Monday, attended by nearly 100 senior executives from London, Paris, Istanbul, Kuwait, Doha and Abu Dhabi as well as by Robert Waller, Consul General of the United States in Dubai.

Giambattista Atzeni said: “It has been a great honor to serve as the Chairman of GBSA in a year of rapid growth and increased influence.”

Incoming GBSA Chair Stuart Anderson remarked: “The GBSA will continue to work on addressing and resolving the critical issues that impact our markets at both the regional level and through our new national chapters.”

Outlining the GBSA’s accomplishments during 2013, the President of the GBSA, Michael Grifferty, said: “The association will continue to keep focused in the Gulf while partnering with official international institutions to support markets and spur growth in the broader region.”

Sohail Zubairi, CEO of Dar Al Sharia delivered special remarks at the dinner in which he underlined the dynamic growth trajectory of Islamic finance.

The GBSA’s sub-committees and working groups bring together the leaders of the regional credit markets to create a more collective voice on key issues affecting the industry.

The GBSA Chapters, Working Groups and Committees will be chaired in 2014 as follows:

1)    Qatar National Chapter (co-chairs)
Walid Salameh, Standard Chartered Bank and Fahad Al Khalifa, Qatar National Bank

2)    Kuwait National Chapter
Rani Selwanes, NBK Capital

3)    Project Finance Working Group
Asli Aksuyek, Standard Chartered Bank

4)    Basel III Implementation Working Group
Alex Roussos, Dentons

5)    Islamic Finance Practice Group (co-chairs)
Hani Ibrahim, Alex Armstrong, QInvest and Debashis Dey, Clifford Chance

6)    Investment Management Committee (co-chairs)
Kai Schneider, Partner, Clifford Chance and Giambattista Atzeni, BNY Mellon

7)    Government Issuance Committee
Mustafa Aziz Ata, HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd

8)    Investor Relations Committee
Daniele Vecchi and Shrimati Damal, Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Holding

9)    Regulatory Affairs Committee (co-chairs)
Nomaan Raja, Latham & Watkins and Richard Stumbles, HSBC Bank Middle East Ltd.

The GBSA annual dinner was sponsored by Interactive Data and Latham & Watkins LLP.