Islam Zekry is Group Chief Finance and Operations Officer at CIB where he is an Executive Director of the CIB Board of Directors, a member of the bank’s Executive Committee, and a board member of CIB Kenya.
Mr. Zekry has demonstrated a proven track record in optimizing financial performance, driving growth, fostering innovation, and delivering value to stakeholders. His extensive knowledge of global markets, regulatory environments, and industry trends—both locally and internationally—enables him to provide strategic financial guidance that supports CIB strategic objectives.
Prior to his appointment as CFO in 2023, Mr. Zekry was the first appointed Chief Data Officer having created the Data Analytics group in 2016. In that role he oversaw data warehousing, business design and operations, analytics, and the bank’s quant finance platforms. He joined CIB in 2004 in the Finance Department.
Mr. Zekry has broad international experience in markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He is a steering committee member of Smart Africa, an international alliance established to accelerate sustainable socioeconomic development on the continent. He is a member of the EU-AU Digital Economy Task Force, which examines ways of cooperative engagement in the field of digital economy between Europe and Africa. In addition, he serves on the Digital Transformation Committee of the World Economic Forum WEF. Most recently he was nominated to the Egyptian AI Council to formulate and execute the country’s AI vision strategy. Mr. Zekry is a member of the Chartered Institute of Managerial Accountants in the UK, member of FITCH Quantitative Finance Institute in London, and Non-Executive-Director at NLB Banking Group in Central Europe.
Under his leadership, London Business School (LBS) featured CIB’s data transformation as a case study in 2018, making CIB the first Middle Eastern company to be analyzed by the master's program for Advanced Analytics. Subsequently, Harvard Business School included the case study in its curriculum, and it became a reference for a number of international and academic research centers.
Mr. Islam was leading the team responsible for multiple prestigious awards and international recognition from global institutions such as Euromoney, Global Finance, International institute of Finance (IIF), Carnegie Mellon University distinguished quants practice award and Digital Awards 50-Silicon Valley.
Mr. Zekry holds Doctorate in Financial mathematics and MBA from the University of Chicago- Booth Business School with a concentration in Advanced Financial Analytics and Corporate Economic Performance Management.