CIB Corporate Governance

Mr. Hisham Ezz Al-Arab has been Chairman and Managing Director of Cairo-headquartered CIB since 2002. He leads today a team of more than 6,500 professionals who have transformed the institution from a wholesale lender into Egypt’s largest private-sector bank, leading the sector on key metrics including revenue, profitability, net worth and market share of deposits. CIB serves more than 1.1 million active customers, from individual customers to small- and medium-sized businesses and leading corporations, among them Egypt’s 500 largest companies.  

  

The bank’s market capitalization has grown from EGP 1 billion at the beginning of Mr. Ezz Al-Arab’s term to EGP 86 billion today, making its stock — a blue chip component of the Egyptian Exchange — the global investment community’s preferred proxy for Egypt and a benchmark for the banking industry in emerging markets. 

 

Core to the bank’s success is its unique culture, which balances an entrepreneurial spirit that prizes innovation with a commitment to global best practices in both corporate governance and risk management. That culture, nurtured over more than 15 years, is the bank’s natural competitive advantage and led directly to the establishment of the first-ofits-kind employee stock ownership program (ESOP) in 2006. With more than 80% of all employees now shareholders, the program aligns the interests of employees and those of shareholders. In 2010, Mr. Ezz Al-Arab brought to life the CIB Foundation, which is a leading Egyptian voice for universal access to quality healthcare, with a particular focus on the needs of underprivileged children.  

 

In 2018, CIB became the first corporation in the Middle East to be the subject of a case study by London Business School. To mark the occasion, Mr. Ezz Al-Arab joined distinguished professors from LBS’ Leadership Institute and the Wheeler Institute for Business to discuss the innovation advantage of emerging markets companies and how the “ABCDs” of artificial intelligence, blockchain, the computing cloud and big data will lead a revolution in the financial services industry.  

Being a firm believer in education, Mr. Ezz Al-Arab expanded CIB’s collaboration with reputable educational organizations to provide diversified learning opportunities. Such included “CIB Endowed Professorship of Banking” at the American University in Cairo (AUC), which is designed to expose students to multiple perspectives that result in superior business leadership. In 2016, CIB and AUC launched “AUC Venture Lab FinTech Accelerator”, Egypt’s first university-based incubator and accelerator that supports FinTech entrepreneurs and bridges the gap between the financial services in Egypt and the emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Under his leadership, CIB has received significant international accolades, which are testament to the Bank’s management excellence and outstanding performance over the years. To name a few, CIB received Euromoney’s 2018 “Best Bank Transformation in the Middle East”, “Best Bank in the Middle East” in 2017 and Global Finance’s “Digital Bank of Distinction in Egypt” and was named African Banker’s 2016 “Socially Responsible Bank of the Year”. Mr. Ezz Al-Arab was recognized in 2016 for his “Outstanding Contribution to Financial Services in the Middle East” and was EMEA Finance’s “Best CEO in Egypt and Africa” at the magazine’s 2014 Banking Awards.

In 2018, CIB was named the “World’s Best Emerging Markets Bank in 2018” by Global Finance, a year after being recognized for the same award category by Euromoney. CIB is the first bank in Egypt, North Africa and Middle East to ever win this award.

 

Mr. Ezz Al Arab leads the Federation of Egyptian Banks as chairman, is a Co-chair of the 

Institute of International Finance’s Emerging Markets Advisory Council, and serves as Director of Master Card Middle East’s Regional Advisory Board. He is also the Chairman of Board of Trustees of the CIB Foundation. Mr. Ezz Al-Arab is a nonexecutive director of the board of Fairfax Africa 

 

Mr. Ezz Al-Arab joined CIB from Deutsche Bank and previously served with both JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch in postings that took him to Bahrain, New York and Cairo. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Cairo University. 

Mr. Hussein Abaza leads strategy and operations at Commercial International Bank (Egypt), an institution with more than 6,500 employees serving more than 1.1 million active customers, including Egypt’s 500 largest corporations, online and at 201 branches, 888 ATMs and 13,142 points of sale nationwide. 

Hussein has been Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors since March 2017. He assumed this position after a six-year run as CEO Institutional Banking. Prior to this, Hussein was the bank’s Chief Operating Officer and, from 2001 until 2010, its Chief Risk Officer responsible for managing credit, market, and operational risk across CIB. 

Hussein also is a member of the bank’s award-winning investor relations program, which has helped CIB grow from a market capitalization of EGP 10.8 billion in 2008 to EGP 86 billion today. Under Hussein’s leadership, the team managed Ripplewood’s 2009 exit from CIB, the entry into the shareholding structure of global emerging markets private equity firm Actis, and the subsequent sale of Actis’ 6.5% stake to Canada’s insurance firm Fairfax Financial Holding Ltd. in the Egyptian Exchange’s first block trading transaction. The bank’s IR program has taken home wins from the Extel / MEIRA poll for five consecutive years, from 2014 to 2018. 

In his more than 25 years with CIB, Hussein has also become actively involved in the Bank’s regionally renowned credit training program, which provides talented young bankers with the theoretical basis and hands-on experience needed to assess the creditworthiness of organizations across all sectors of the economy. 

He also brings to CIB a sharp interest in financial markets and non-bank financial services, having served as Head of Research and then Managing Director at EFG Hermes Asset Management from 1995 until his return to CIB in 2001. He called on that experience from 2014 to 2017 when he was Chairman of CI Capital, a leading Egyptian investment bank and subsidiary of CIB until the bank exited its investment.

Hussein joined CIB after obtaining his BA in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo. He has pursued post-graduate training and education in Belgium, Switzerland, London, and New York. 

Mr. Jawaid Mirza is the lead director and non-executive independent board member of CIB since January 2014 and also chairs the Board audit committee. He is also a member of the Board Risk committee, Board Operations and Technology committee (which he previously chaired for 3 years since inception), Board Corporate Governance and Nomination committee as well as a member of the Corporate Sustainability Committee.  

Mr. Mirza is a strong proponent and practitioner of international corporate governance and brings with him over 35 years of diversified experience and a solid track record in all facets of financial and risk management, technology, mergers and acquisitions, business turnarounds and operation management.

Over the years, Mr Mirza has worked with global institutions like Citibank and ABN AMRO Bank Ltd where he held several senior positions as CFO European Region, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer for Global Private Banking, Asset Management and New Growth Markets (Consumer Banking), Chief Financial Officer for Asian region including Australia/New Zealand and Middle East.   Mr Mirza led several due diligences for acquiring banks in Hungary, Taiwan, Thailand, Germany, Brazil, France and Pakistan. Mr Mirza was also a member of the Top Executive Group (TEG) of ABN AMRO Bank as well as member of the Group Finance and Group COO Board.

Mr. Mirza currently serves as Independent Non-Executive Board member of Eurobank Ergasias (Athens) where he chairs the Board Audit Committee and also a member of the Board Risk Committee.  Mr Mirza also serves as Non-Executive Independent Board member of South Africa Bank of Athens (Johannesburg) and member of their Board Audit, Risk and Technology committees.

Mr. Mirza holds various business management courses from reputable institutions like Queens Business school (Toronto), Wharton Business school, Stanford Graduate School of Business and is also a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, Canada.

Dr. Sherif Kamel is professor of management and dean of the school of business at the American University in Cairo.  He served the university as vice president for information management and as associate dean for executive education at the school of business.  Before joining AUC, he was director of the Regional IT Institute and prior to that he was training manager of the Cabinet of Egypt Information and Decision Support Center.  He is an Eisenhower Fellow and the Center for Global Enterprise Fellow.  

He is a member of the AACSB International Middle East Advisory Council; Egypt-US Business Council and a board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and Education for Employment Egypt.  Previously, he was a board member of the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund, and member in the World Bank Knowledge Advisory Commission.  He was a founding member of the Internet Society of Egypt.  He was invited as panelist/speaker in a variety of policy, development and leadership conferences and expert meetings including Asia-Middle East Dialogue, AACSB International, World Summit on the Information Society, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Atlantic Council, German Marshall Fund, Middle East Institute, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.  

Dr. Kamel holds a PhD in information systems from London School of Economics and Political Science, an MBA, a BA in business administration and an MA in Islamic Art and Architecture from the American University in Cairo.  His research and teaching interests include management of information technology, information technology transfer to developing nations, organizational transformation, electronic business, decision support systems and entrepreneurship.  His work is published in information systems and management journals and books. 

Dr. Kamel is CIB Non-executive Board Member since May 2013 and chairs the Operations & Technology Committee and he is a member of the Audit, Compensation, Governance & Nomination Committees.

Mr. Yasser Hashem is the Managing Partner of ZH&P since 1996. The legal skills he has extended to the privatization of public sector entities and to the inception of the private provisions of telecom services in Egypt - and the promulgation of its laws - has placed him as a valued veteran of the legal practice in Egypt.  Combining a wide range of extensive legal knowledge with honed networking and interpersonal skills, Mr. Hashem protects and furthers the interest of over 100 local and international clients. 

With a special focus on the practice of Corporate Law, Mr. Hashem has supported the privatization programme of public sector entities in Egypt through hundreds of restructurings, incorporations of foreign and domestic companies and advising foreign and local investors on the most efficient vehicles and structures for implementing their investment in Egypt.

As related to the fields of M&A and capital markets, he has reliably represented acquirers in all major tender offers and M&A transactions in Egypt and has led the largest four major multibillion US dollars M&A transactions in Egypt. Additionally, he played a major role in most of the Initial Public Offerings (IPO’s) which took place in Egypt.

Mr. Hashem’s legal skills were also extended to the telecommunication sector in Egypt through advising on the most significant telecommunications licenses and M&A transactions in Egypt.  The legal services he has extended to this sector include the acquisition and mandatory tender offers of telecommunication companies as well as supporting bidding consortia on a number of mobile and fixed wireless license bids.  He has contributed in the drafting and negotiation of all major telecom licenses including public payphones, mobile cellular networks, private data networks, satellite and marine fiber optic cabling, etc.  He has also led the team acting for the largest post revolution acquisition transactions in the telecommunication sector in 2012 and advised Orange (one of the leading network operators for mobile, broadband internet and fixed line) in its successful 100% acquisition of Mobinil for approximately US$ 3 billion.  Mr. Hashem’s expertise in the telecom sector has led to his appointment by Ministerial Decree as Member of the New Telecommunications Act Drafting Committee.

He was recognized by The LEGAL 500 as “Leading Individual” for the years 2016, 2017, and 2018 and his name figures in The LEGAL 500’s Hall of Fame for having been recognized for seven consecutive years.  He was also ranked by IFLR 1000 as Leading Lawyer in the Financial and Corporate Practice for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Mr. Hashem was ranked by Chambers and Partners Global as “Band 1” Lawyer in the Corporate / M&A practice for the years 2017 and 2018 and as “Band 1” Lawyer in the Banking & Finance practice for the year 2018.  His initial ranking by Chambers and Partners dates back to the year 2000.   

Mr. Hashem has received the LL.B. from Cairo University in 1989.  He was admitted before the Egyptian Court of Cassation in 2007 and is a member of the Egyptian Society of International Law and the Licensing Executive Society.  He is fluent in Arabic, English, and German.

Mr. Hashem is CIB’s Non-executive Board Member since May 2013; he chairs the Governance and Nomination Committee, and is member of the Audit and Compensation Committees.

Mr. Richards was Chairman of Exotix Holdings Limited, a frontier markets brokerage and investment bank and Director of Singapore Life, a rapidly growing digital life insurance group operating across south-east Asia. He was Chief Executive of IPGL (Holdings) Limited, a major corporate holding Company based in the UK. At Oxford University.  He is also an non-executive director of international financial services search specialist Sheffield Howarth. 

Mr. Richards brings considerable experience in emerging market banking and investment. He was Partner and Global Head of Financial Services at Actis, one of the world’s leading and most ethical emerging market private equity groups. During 11 years at Actis, he was responsible for building many successful companies in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

He previously spent 18 years at Barclays in senior roles including CFO of the International Offshore Bank, Director of Group Strategy and Head of Group Corporate Development.

With his 30 years of global experience in Banking and Financial Services, Mr. Richards serves as Non-Executive Director for a number of companies. At CIB he chairs the Risk Committee and supports strategy development.  He has a first class degree from Oxford University in modern history and economics.

He completed the Accelerated Development Program from London Business School, and Group Level Strategy from Ashridge Management College.  He also attended the Leading Professional Services Firms Program at Harvard Business School.

Mr. Richards is CIB Non-executive Board Member since February 2014 and chairs the Risk Committee and a member of the Compensation, Governance & Nomination Committees.

Mr. Khosrowshahi is the President and CEO of Fairfax International.  He joined Fairfax Financial Holdings in June 2009 and is currently based in London, UK.  Fairfax is a financial services holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance and investment management.  Fairfax is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Fairfax International focuses on expanding Fairfax’s International insurance presence outside North America. Mr. Khosrowshahi also represents Fairfax’s interests as a board member in Gulf Insurance Group k.S.C.P. and Gulf Insurance & Reinsurance Company in Kuwait, Bahrain Kuwait Insurance Company B.S.C., Arab Misr Insurance Group S.A.E. in Egypt, Arab Orient Insurance Company in Jordan, Gulf Sigorta A.S. in Turkey, Alliance Insurance Company P.S.C in United Arab Emirates, Jordan Kuwait Bank in Jordan, Colonnade Insurance S.A. in Luxembourg, Southbridge Compañía de Seguros Generales S.A. in Chile, as well as La Meridional Compañía Argentina de Seguros S.A. in Argentina and SBS Seguros Colombia S.A. in Colombia.

Prior to joining Fairfax, Mr. Khosrowshahi was the President & CEO of Fuji Fire & Marine Insurance Company Limited, based in Japan.  He is the only non-Japanese individual who has been the President of a publicly traded Japanese insurance company.  In 2002, Fuji Fire & Marine began a major reform of the company after investment by its major shareholders American International Group (AIG) and ORIX Corporation. He was elected President in June 2004 and successfully implemented a turnaround strategy to return Fuji to profitability and growth through taking strategically leading positions within the insurance industry in Japan.

From 2001 to 2004, he was the President of AIG’s General Insurance operations based in Seoul, South Korea where a major restructuring plan resulted in significant revenue and profitability increases through specific product and channel strategies.  From 1997 until 2001, Mr. Khosrowshahi, as the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of AIG Sigorta based in Istanbul, Turkey, was involved in negotiating strategic alliances and joint ventures with Turkish conglomerates and working with governmental regulators to improve support for new product introductions for the emerging Turkish insurance market.

Prior to this position, he was Regional Vice President of AIG’s domestic property and casualty operations for the Mid-Atlantic region based in Philadelphia.  He also held various underwriting and management positions with increasing responsibilities at AIG’s headquarters in New York since joining AIG in 1986.

Mr. Khosrowshahi obtained an MBA in 1986 following an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1983 from Drexel University.  He participated in the Executive Development Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 2003 and is a regular lecturer at universities and insurance institutes.

He has served on the board of Foreign Affairs Council and the Insurance Society of Philadelphia.  He has also been a council member of USO in South Korea, the Chairman of the insurance committee on the American Chamber of Commerce in South Korea, and a member of the Turkish Businessmen’s Association.  He is also a member of the U.K. Chartered Insurance Institute.

Bijan holds a 4th degree black belt in karate and enjoys tennis, skiing, cooking, automobiles and chess.  He is fluent in English, Farsi, Turkish and Azari, with basic knowledge of Japanese.

Mr. Khosrowshahi is CIB Non-executive Board Member since October 2014 representing the interest of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. and chairs the Compensation Committee and is a member of the Risk and Governance & Nomination Committees.

Dr. Amani Abou-Zeid is the African Union Commissioner in charge of Infrastructure, Energy, ICT and Tourism. 

For more than 30 years, Dr Abou-Zeid has served in leadership positions in international organisations, such as the African Development Bank, UNDP and USAID, with a focus on infrastructure and energy programmes. Over her career, she has amassed a remarkable mix of experience from across Africa, France, UK and Canada and worked across constituencies with wide array of stakeholders.

She has managed AfDB largest operational portfolio and implemented national and continental multi-sectoral development programmes, including the world's largest solar power plant (Nour).  In 2018, Commissioner Abou-Zeid launched the Single African Air Transport Market, delivering on the first flagship project for African Integration under African Union Agenda 2063. She also launched the African digital identity DotAfrica, among other continental initiatives.

An Egyptian national, Dr Abou-Zeid has a multi-disciplinary academic training: B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University; MBA in project management from the French University for African Development (Université Senghor); a Masters of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard School of Government; and Ph.D. in Social and Economic Development from The University of Manchester, UK. She also has a degree in Arts from Université Sorbonne-Paris IV. 

Dr. Abou-Zeid has received numerous international awards and recognitions for her leadership and excellence : decorated the Wissam Alaouite from HM King Mohamed VI of Morocco, named “Personalité d'avenir" by Government of France and selected one of "The 50 Most Influential Women in Africa"; and received the "Outstanding Alumni Award" from the University of Manchester, UK.

Commissioner Abou-Zeid is also member of the prestigious Global Leaders Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, and of the Stewardship Board for System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Energy. She co-leads the Steering Committee of Smart Africa and the Africa-EU Digital Economy High Level Task Force.

She is passionate about classical music, plays piano, is a certified alpinist and competes to top positions in desert car rallyes -- among other interests and activities.

Dr. Abou-Zeid is CIB Non-executive Board Member since December 2017 and is a member of the Risk, Compensation and Governance & Nomination Committees.

Mrs. Habib is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dawi Clinics, a chain of primary care clinics established in Egypt in 2016. Mrs. Habib has vast experience in the technical information technology and electronic payments fields as well as smart banking solutions. Moreover, Mrs. Habib has 25 years expertise in various managerial arenas including strategic brand management, consumer and retail marketing, corporate communications and investor relations.

Previously, she was the Co-Founder, Board Member and Chief Commercial, Marketing & Strategy Officer at Fawry Banking and Payment Technology Services.  As a co-founder and a key member in the executive team, Mrs. Habib helped establish Fawry as the leading electronics payment platform in Egypt with more than 50 thousand payment points nationwide. Mrs. Habib's journey with Fawry culminated with a successful exit to a consortium of private equity funds in 2015.

Prior to Fawry, Mrs. Habib spent 9 years as a member of Raya Holding executive team where she played a key role in the merger and development of Raya group, as well as being responsible for the creation and development of the Raya brand to become a leading technology player in Egypt.

Mrs. Habib obtained a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from INSEAD, France.  She holds a B.Sc. with Honors in Computer Science from the American University in Cairo.   

Mrs. Habib is CIB Non-executive Board Member since December 2017 and is a member of the Operations & Technology, Compensation and Governance & Nomination Committees.