Mr. Brendon Hopkins

Manama, Bahrain: Arab Banking Corporation (ABC) announced today the appointment of a new Group Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Brendon Hopkins will join ABC as Group Chief Financial Officer (GCFO) from 1 June 2014, based in Bahrain.  He will report to Dr. Khaled Kawan, Group CEO, and will oversee ABC’s global finance, strategy, and taxation activities, ensuring that ABC is well positioned, both financially and strategically, to achieve its transformation agenda. 

Roy Gardner, ABC’s Group Chief Financial Officer since 2009, has decided to retire after five years of loyal service to Arab Banking Corporation. ABC would like to take this opportunity to thank Roy for his contribution to the ABC Group and to wish him a long and happy retirement.

Mr. Hopkins is a Chartered Accountant, a Chartered Tax Advisor, and holds a degree in Mathematics and an MBA. He is a senior executive with over 25 years’ total experience in financial services, 18 years of which were spent with Standard Chartered Bank, with responsibilities held at global, regional and country levels.  Previous roles at Standard Chartered include Group Head, Strategy, Western Hemisphere (covering the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas) and Chief Executive Officer, Europe, an FSA approved role, leading business in the UK and Europe. This has given him extensive experience in financial planning, balance sheet management and leading major strategic and regulatory change projects as well as leading and growing international banking operations.

As GCFO at ABC, he will deploy his skills and experience as an integral member of the senior management team, working towards realising the Group’s ambition of becoming the leading universal bank in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Commenting on this appointment, Dr. Khaled Kawan, Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “I am delighted that Brendon will be joining the senior management team of ABC. He is a seasoned financial executive with proven experience gained at top leadership levels in key roles, both financial and operational. His appointment will provide critical support for the acceleration of our plans and underscores our focus on a forward looking management of our financial and strategic evolution.”

For his part, Mr. Hopkins commented: “I am pleased to be appointed Group Chief Financial Officer at ABC.  This is an exciting time in the Group’s journey and ABC is pursuing an ambitious and challenging agenda that will build on its already strong reputation in MENA. I am very much looking forward to working with Dr. Kawan and the rest of the senior management team on taking ABC’s strategy forward, dealing with the changing regulatory landscape and optimising the Group’s strong financial position.”

Bahrain-based ABC is a leading player in the region’s banking industry and provides innovative wholesale financial products and services that include corporate banking, trade finance, project and structured finance, syndications, treasury products and Islamic banking. It also provides retail banking services through its network of retail banks in the MENA region, namely in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.