wael ibrahim

Bio Summary

A Transformation Leader with progressive and global experience within the financial and digital industries. Proven track record in leading business build-up & growth, operations revamp and digital transformations acquired through a mix of consultancy and industry experience with world class organizations across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

As a Chief Operating Officer, I have lead Business build-up and growth, Digital Ventures, Transformation, Organizational Transformation, Digitization and Digital Businesses, Operations, Technology, Marketing, Branding, Payments, Outsourcing management, Finance, Policies & Procedures, Performance management, Compliance, and Admin functions, with stellar results across all.

As a McKinsey consultant, I served many world-leading institutions across the Middle East, the US, and Europe on variety of topics including growth & business build-up, strategy formulation, operations and digital transformation, policy reform, market entry, risk and loss mitigation, technology, and organizational transformation topics.

Employment History

Independent Advisor

October 2020 - present

Independent consultant working in collaboration with large consulting houses, with primary focus on digital and business transformation, business growth, operational optimization, and strategy topics.

Group Chief Operating Officer (GCOO)

Finance House

April 2018 - October 2020

Dubai - United Arab Emirates

Finance House PJSC is the largest non-banking financial services Group in the UAE, operating a conventional (FH) and Islamic (IFH) Finance companies, Insurance (IH), Securities brokerage (FHS), and Investments (CAPM) companies - Leading wide array of functions across the Group, including Digital World (Digitization & Digital Ventures), Technology, Operations, Strategy, Enterprise Project Management, Information Security, Compliance, Operational Risk, Retail Risk, Collections & Recovery, and Policies & Procedures. - Spearheading overall Group transformation roadmap across all domains. - Leading the establishment of new key digital channels/platforms, including fully digital lending platforms and multiple Joint Ventures (JVs) focused on offering digital financial services' ecosystem. - Chairing key change initiatives across the Group, including revamp of Performance Management, Values and Culture definition, regulatory compliance overhaul, acquisitions, in addition to multiple confidential projects. Key Achievements: - Spearheaded the digitization roadmap across the Group, driving end-to-end customer journeys and operations digitization which resulted in 50%+ savings in operations’ headcount, with target to achieve 80% reduction, while delivering superior customer experience. - Led the definition and development of the company’s financial services digital offering to key customer segments (Corporate, Retail, and Labor); launching a first in the market “Labor-banking” mobile app and the company’s first “state-of-the-art” retail acquisition mobile app - Drove the development and execution of key Digital Ventures, as a key pillar of the Group’s digital strategy, as joint ventures with key partners, e.g., EmPay partnership with Dubai Government. - Overhauled our retail risk strategy and underlying processes, together with our collection & recovery platform, resulting in reducing FH’s cost of risk by 40%. - Developed the Group’s technology transformation roadmap, including the transition to cloud platform

Senior External Advisor

McKinsey & Company

June 2017 - April 2018

- Leading consulting engagements for McKinsey & Company, serving Financial Institutions in North Africa & Middle East - Engagements focused on topics of growth strategy, digital platforms, integration, , digitization, and ma ...see more

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Emirates Islamic

October 2011 - January 2017

Dubai - United Arab Emirates

A fully owned subsidiary of Emirates NBD - The Executive member leading Strategy & Transformation, Digitization & Technology transformation, Operations, new business build-up, Marketing & Corporate communications, Business Governance, Admin services, Outsourcing management, Payments, and Performance management, leading over 100 FTE in own vertical and over 500 FTE indirectly (outsourced). - Leading bank-wide transformation across all businesses, operations, technology, and governance. - A core member of key management committees, e.g., Executive committee, Investments committee, Human Resources committee, ALM committee, Collection & Remedial committee. - Chairing and leading key “change committees” for managing key projects, e.g., Core Banking replacement, Digitalization, Digital channels, Branch transformation, KYC remediation, Ideas and innovations, Culture revamp and values definition Key Achievements: - Successfully spearheaded, Emirates Islamic’s transformation to become the fastest growing bank in the UAE, with revenues more than tripling within 5 years (AED 750mn 2011, AED 2.5bn 2016) - Led the development and implementation of the strategy and transformation roadmap across all business and back-office lines, revamping the bank’s value proposition and operating model across all segments. - Spearheaded the digitalization roadmap for the bank, building the digital platforms across all segments. - Revamped full bank operations, end-to-end, aligning all processes to newly mapped ‘key customer journeys’, resulting in 30% cost reduction on average while boosting customer satisfaction. - Presided multiple critical technology projects, including core banking replacements, acquisition and integration of Dubai Bank, and various systems replacements. - Led the development and implementation of new customer-centric branch model which adds on average 30% sales capacity to the branch while reducing cost by 15-20% - Drove marketing transformation, including rebranding to the 5th/6th most valuable banking brand in UAE; 3rd/4th largest followers base in UAE on social media; revamp of corporate communications to become a top 5 “mentioned bank” - Led the bank-wide implementation of analytics-based continuous improvement - Established new business lines of Integrated Payments Platforms for 3rd party, generating over AED 2bn in deposits.

Head Business Strategy & Development – CWM

Emirates NBD

July 2010 - September 2011

Dubai - United Arab Emirates

- Driving definition and implementation of overall CWM (Consumer & Wealth Management) strategy and business plans for all Business Units. - Leading strategy implementation across CWM together with respective Business Units m ...see more

Engagement Manager

McKinsey & Company

March 2006 - July 2010

Dubai - United Arab Emirates

▪ Served many world leading organizations, primarily financial services institutions. ▪ Key topics included growth & business buildup, operations transformation, organizational and performance transformation, market entry, risk management & loss mitigation, policy reforms, and outsourcing management. ▪ Recognized as a “Fast-track” having been appointed directly from Business Analyst to Associate, then shortly afterwards to Engagement Manager. ▪ As a top performer, recognized by enrollment into the exclusive “Global Rotation Program”, providing rotational placement in key global markets – United Kingdom and United States. ▪ Selected projects: o Reorganizing the corporate banking business of one of the largest banks in the ME. o Performing market evaluation and defining entry strategy for a major international financial institution looking to enter the consumer finance market in a number of major ME countries. o Restructuring of the brand and branch network architecture following a merger of two leading UK banks. o Developing an Affluent banking value proposition for a leading European bank focused on the UK market o Designing and implementing a sales stimulation program for the branch sales force of a rising ME Bank o Building a world class commercial loss mitigation business model and organization for a regional US bank o Designing and implementing a new SME business model for a leading bank in the ME o Developing mortgage strategy and value proposition for a leading bank in the ME o Formulating the group strategy for a leading UAE bank in light of the recent economic developments locally and globally. o Identifying opportunities – and defining plan of action – for a major Asian bank from obtaining a stake in a leading global investment bank focusing on the EU. o Supporting a Middle Eastern country in reviewing ‘a key pillar’ of its financial infrastructure regulation and developing reform plan o Supporting a GCC country in reviewing and reforming its Notary Public framework o Designing a Joint Venture (JV) structure to outsource Customs’ support operations for a Middle Eastern country aiming to improve and modernize customs’ services

Outsourced IT Services Leader

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

November 2003 - February 2006

Cairo, Egypt

▪ Leading the outsourced technology management provided by Hewlett Packard to Procter & Gamble Egypt. ▪ Driving several regional roles focused on synergizing technology best-practices across the Middle East region.

Technology and User Productivity Manager

Procter & Gamble

November 2002 - November 2003

Egypt

▪ Leading the Technology user productivity and IT Call Center support for Procter & Gamble Egypt ▪ Driving key user-experience enhancement projects across the country, with focus on digital self-services.

Selected Project Experience

Project Description:

-Supporting a Middle Eastern country in reviewing ‘a key pillar’ of its financial infrastructure regulation and developing reform plan

Industry: Public Sector

Project Description:

Defining, and supporting the implementation, of 5-years growth strategy for a newly acquired bank in a large middle eastern market by a regional bank

Industry: Financial Services

Project Description:

Supporting a regional bank in benchmarking its organizational capacity versus other comparable banks in the region. I acted as an expert supporting a leading consulting company on the topic

Industry: Financial Services

Education

General Management Program (GMP)

Harvard Business School

2012

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

The American University in Cairo (AUC)

2006

Bachelor of Science (BSc)

The American University in Cairo (AUC)

2002

Language Skills

English French

Country Experience

Kuwait Egypt Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States

Skills

Business

Digital Strategy,

Service Operations,

Performance Management,

Business Unit Strategy,

Growth Strategy,

Innovation Strategy,

Portfolio Strategy,

Strategic Planning,

Digital

Data Analysis

Data Analytics

Industry Experience

Public Sector

Economic Development

Social Sector

NGOs and Nonprofits