Standard Chartered Bank earlier this week announced the appointment of Abbass Husain as the new Regional Head of Corporate Finance in charge of Africa and the Middle East.

According to a statement that was seen by Nairametrics, Hussain will also combine his new role with that of being the Head of Project & Export for the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan. He will be based in Dubai, the statement said.

Husain has nearly 24 years of banking experience, out of which he has spent 17 years at Standard Chartered Bank where he had reportedly led one of the largest and most successful Project & Export Finance teams. Available information also noted that he has a proven track record in the structuring and execution of finance transactions in the power sector, oil and gas sector, metals and infrastructure, and more.

READ MORE: Ethiopia moves ahead of Nigeria, offers tax relief to firms affected by COVID-19

It should be noted that in his previous role, Husain had advised, structured, and executed more than 50 deals thereby raising as much as $100 billion for the company.

He has received many awards, including the Dealmaker of the Year by EMEA Finance for Europe, the Middle East & Africa in 2017. Under his leadership, the MENAP Project Finance business has been recognized industry-wide as the Best Project Finance House in the region over the last few years. He has also been a key contributor to driving the bank’s Sustainable Finance commitment through leadership in the renewables sector

READ ALSO: Stanbic IBTC, Ecobank, 24 others attract $5.36 billion foreign investments in Q3 

Before joining Standard Chartered, he had stints at Citibank where he managed the portfolio of both multinational corporations and local companies. He also worked with Bank of America as a diversified portfolio manager.

While commenting on Husain’s appointment, Standard Chartered’s Regional Chief Executive Officer for Africa and the Middle East, Sunni Kaushal, said:

“The appointment of Abbas demonstrates the commitment we have made in developing top leadership talent within the bank. We are focussed on the continued growth of our business, and he brings a valuable wealth of experience in successfully advising clients across a diverse range of sectors in our footprint. As we navigate the current COVID-19 crisis, Abbas will play a crucial role in supporting our clients across Africa and the Middle East during this challenging period.”

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On Monday, June 1, 2020, Alan Sinfield became the first substantive Chief Executive Office of 9Mobile, since its name was changed from Etisalat.

Sinfield succeeds Stephane Beuvelet, who had been in acting capacity since November 2018 after the reshuffling of the company’s management.

Let’s look at the pedigree and experience which Sinfield brings to bear in his new position.

Alan Sinfield can be considered a hybrid executive, combining experience and expertise from the Telecommunications industry, as well as the banking industry.

His banking career started with a management trainee program at Bank of America, where he rose through the ranks to become a programmer and business Analyst. He later worked in Frankfurt, Germany, before joining Barclays Bank in South Africa as a technical manager. His desire to work in different countries took him to work in various other banks in Portugal, Slovakia, and Hong Kong.

(READ MORE: Top 10 CEOs and how they spent 10 days in lockdown)

He first tested the waters of the telecom industry in Korea when he took up a Merger & Acquisition role with the merger of SK Telecom & Shinsaegi Telecom.

As a telecommunications expert, Sinfield has held leadership roles in several companies including mobile, fixed-line and broadband data operators, fintech and banking sectors. He has also held management positions in retail, media, and wholesale distribution businesses across emerging markets in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

READ ALSO: A total of $70 billion has so far been invested in Nigeria’s telecom industry

His experience in the telecoms sector includes a couple of years as Chief Information Officer and Chief Customer Services Officer at Orascom Telecom (IraQna), a subsidiary of the listed Egyptian Telecommunications Group,

He is not new to the office of chief executive, as he has served as CEO for four years at Ooredoo (Starlink), a subsidiary of the listed Qatari Telecommunications Group, operating in Qatar.

At different times, he was also the Chief Executive Officer at Amara Communications Co. (ananda), a 4G LTE mobile broadband operator in Myanmar from 2018 to 2019, as well as the CEO of Cadcomms (qb), in Cambodia from 2010 to 2017.

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He has a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.

As the Chairman of 9mobile, HRH, Alhaji Nasir Bayero, remarked that he is expected to strengthen 9mobile’s market position in Nigeria’s competitive telecoms industry.

Sinfield did pick up the challenge when he promised to use his “experience and unique value propositions to lead the company in the next exciting phase of its journey.”

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, brought an end to the 2-year long controversy surrounding the office of the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He did this when he sent a letter to the Senate requesting the house to ratify the appointment of Dr Lamido Yuguda as Commission’s new DG.

Yuguda is an economist, banker and investment manager, with over 30 years’ experience in financial services. Let us take a closer look at Yuguda’s pedigree.

He began his career with Central Bank of Nigeria back in 1984, just shortly after he graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He was employed as a Senior Supervisor of the Foreign operations department, which manages Nigeria’s external debt records.

READ ALSO: Nigeria’s External Reserves plunge to $40.3 billion as devaluation concerns brew

In 1985, he moved to the Banking Supervision Department and had the task of handling bank licensing and prudential regulations.

In 1988, another in-house reshuffling exercise took him to the Debt Conversion Committee Secretariat to manage the Nigerian Debt Conversion Programme together with the pioneer staff in the secretariat.

He moved back to the Foreign Operations Department in 1992, and soon after became the Senior Manager of the Investment Office. Again, his responsibilities included managing Nigeria’s external debt service, as well as managing the investment of the CBN’s external reserves in a liquid portfolio of cash, fixed-term deposits, and foreign government treasury bills.

READ ALSO: Nigeria spends $1.31 billion to service external debt in 2019

Following a secondment, he joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, the USA in 1997, as an economist in the Africa Department. In this position, Yuguda assessed the economic policies and management of balance of payment support programmes in IMF member countries.

In 2001, he returned to the CBN to lead a team of staff to restructure and diversify the CBN’s growing FOREX reserve portfolio. Together with this team, a new investment policy was adopted with the introduction of new asset classes, the appointment of a reputable global custodian and asset managers.

Yuguda successfully upgraded the CBN’s in-house fixed-income trading and settlement capabilities and left a state-of-the-art portfolio management system as his legacy.

By 2010, he became Director of the Reserve Management Department. He is credited with the strong risk-aware investment culture in the department, and also instilled a disciplined approach to investment evaluation.

READ MORE: UPDATE: Fitch downgrades Nigeria’s IDR to “B”, says CBN’s remedial policy not enough

After 32 years at the apex bank, he voluntarily retired in 2016. He has been a member of the Board of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and will now resume as its DG.

Yuguda has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, having graduated in 1983. He later obtained a Master’s degree in Money, Banking, and Finance from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 1991.

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He has attended leadership training at notable business schools like Harvard, INSEAD, IMD, Saïd, Wharton, Haas, and London.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), a CFA charter holder, and also holds a Certificate in Financial Asset Management and Engineering from the Swiss Finance Institute, Geneva, Switzerland.