Regional banking veteran joins HBG Holdings

Stockdale joins the HBG management team at a time of significant expansion and growth for the company and will be responsible for the finance function, compliance, corporate governance and will spearhead HBG's commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Stockdale will play a key role in structuring and closing private equity transactions and will evaluate plans for launching a niche corporate finance advisory arm. His appointment reflects HBG's commitment to subscribing to international standards of corporate governance and compliance.

He brings to the role a wealth of experience and is well known in the region with 23 of his 34 continuous years of service with Lloyds TSB having been spent in the Middle East. Most recently Stockdale was CEO of Lloyds TSB Bank Group's wholly owned Offshoring subsidiary, based in India.

Stockdale also holds two significant honorary non-executive appointments, as the UK's Securities and Investment Institute's (SII) India Regional Committee President and also as the SII's Senior Representative for the Middle East region.

In the latter capacity, he and his SII Middle East based team are working closely with the UAE Ministry of Economy and the Dubai Authorities and are developing seminars on Integrity and Governance.

Additionally Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an area of focus for Stockdale. During his India tenure he and his Lloyds TSB team worked with local organizations to launch a range of CSR projects encompassing areas of science and IT education in deprived area schools, mental health, and corrective surgery for children and micro finance projects for rural villages. Stockdale also has a personal interest in the creation of projects to teach the principles of Emotional Intelligence to school children in deprived areas.

Zulfi Hydari, Managing Director HBG Holdings, commented upon his appointment:

"This is a significant appointment for us and we are delighted to welcome Richard on board. His experience and expertise in financial services in this region is second to none and absolutely invaluable to us as we expand our footprint regionally."

"We conducted a rigorous international recruitment process; Richard proved by far to be the best candidate to drive our business forward. "

Richard Stockdale said: "I am tremendously excited about the challenges ahead in my new role at HBG Holdings which is a growing force in private equity in the region. We have strong institutional investors, a growing pipeline of deals to execute and plans for significant expansion in the years ahead. I am looking forward to adding my contribution to the deep knowledge and experience of the HBG management team in realizing our strategic plans."