The National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah’s (RAKBANK) Board of Directors appointed Mr. Raheel Ahmed as the new Chief Executive Officer. He will join RAKBANK on 3rd of January 2022 and will take over as CEO during the first quarter of 2022, after the designated handover period is completed. Raheel succeeds Peter England, who will retire to Australia after successfully leading the Bank for over 8 years.
Raheel is a seasoned banker & transformational leader with over 30 years of banking experience across Europe, Asia, Middle East & Africa. He has held senior executive positions at Standard Chartered, Citigroup and Barclays. He has also served as a board member of companies at Standard Chartered and Barclays.
Raheel joins RAKBANK from Barclays UK where he was member of the Executive Committee & the Chief product & analytics officer, responsible for the strategy & commercial performance of the personal banking products. He was also the executive sponsor of Diversity & Inclusion for Barclays UK, a topic that he is passionate about. During his time at Barclays Raheel led the Digital & Analytics transformation to create personalized and frictionless products and services for over 20M customers. He built and led on strategic partnerships with Big Tech & Fin Tech firms & contributed significantly to the automation & digitalization of Barclays UK.
Raheel is no stranger to the UAE, prior to joining Barclays he was based in Dubai with Standard Chartered Bank as the Regional Head of Consumer Banking for Middle East & Africa.
As the Bank’s new CEO, Raheel aims to accelerate the achievement of RAKBANK’s vision by developing & executing strategies that enable the Bank to grow profitability & win market share in an environment where customer expectations is rapidly changing; whilst aspiring to be best in class in customer engagement.
“Raheel is an accomplished leader and we are more than delighted that he will be joining the Bank. He is a versatile and experienced banker who joined us from Barclays bank in the UK where he was the Chief Product and Analytics Officer, responsible for the strategy and commercial performance of the Personal Banking and Barclaycard businesses.” Said H.E. Mohamed Omran Alshamsi, Chairman of RAKBANK. “Raheel is strategic, yet detail oriented; and has the ability to lead high-performing teams. We are confident that he will help further strengthen our Bank and grow its presence in the UAE and specifically in Ras Al Khaimah. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Peter England for leading RAKBANK for over eight years. During that time and under his leadership, the Bank has significantly grown and flourished. Peter’s contribution to the sustained profitability, diversified revenue streams and sound corporate governance is highly commendable. I wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”
“It is my privilege & honor to have been chosen by the Board to lead RAKBANK for the next phase of its growth and transformation said the new CEO of RAKBANK, Raheel Ahmed. “RAKBANK is known for its innovation & customer focus. I am excited by the opportunities in front of us to support the customers & businesses that we serve even more impactfully. A big part of my job will be to enable our team to bring innovative products & services to the market at speed thereby further strengthening our position in the UAE & in Ras Al Khaimah. We will aim to do so by providing ‘Simply Better’ products and services by leveraging the combined power of our brilliant colleagues, digital technology & advanced analytics whilst embracing the highest standards of corporate governance.”
