Nader Ebrahim appointed as Senior Director BIsB

The appointment takes place to keep abreast of rapid banking developments and as part of the Bank's strategy aimed at further developing the management structure.

Mr. Ebrahim comes to BIsB with a rich and varied experience of more than 22 years during which he held a number of management and executive positions in a number of leading local and international banks and financial companies in Bahrain and abroad. These include Gulf International Bank, American Express, Arab Banking Corporation and Citi Islamic Investment Bank.

In a statement, Mr. Yousif Saleh Khalaf, BIsB Chief Executive Officer said he was particularly pleased that Mr. Nader Ebrahim joined the Bank. He added: "We are proud for being able to attract a senior Bahraini banker such as Nader Ebrahim who is certainly an asset to the Bank's workforce. This is an affirmation of our determination to further develop the Bahraini human resources."

He continued: "Nader Ebrahim's joining of the Bank along with other senior and executive personnel is a clear indication that the qualified Bahraini staff who are able to achieve positive results are the option that we endorse."

Before joining the Bank, Mr. Nader Ebrahim held a number of senior and executive positions in several international banking and financial institutions. He worked as a management trainee in American Express following his graduation from university and was employed as head of the Banking Business Unit. This was followed by joining Arab Banking Corporation where after many years of successful achievements, he progressed to the position of a Vice President responsible for the marketing of the Bank's products in the region with country responsibility for the lower Gulf Region.

In 1993 Mr. Nader Ebrahim joined Gulf International Bank as Assistant Vice President in charge of marketing the Bank's products to a selected group of customers in Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman.

Afterwards, he joined Citi Islamic Investment Bank where he spent two years as Resident Vice President directly reporting to the Bank's Managing Director. He was responsible for providing the necessary support for setting up the Bank's Islamic business window. He was also in charge of marketing the Bank's investment products to key customers in the Gulf region.

Overall Mr. Nader Ebrahim enjoys a wide banking and management experience with contributions on the Boards of several financial and banking institutions. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Arab Trade Finance Programme (a subsidiary of the Arab Monetary Fund) and was also a member of the Board of Directors of Securities and Investment Company (SICO).

Nader expressed his pleasure for joining the Bank by saying: "I am indeed delighted to join BIsB family, the first Islamic bank in Bahrain, where I was met with friendly feelings from the first day. This reflected the family spirit prevailing in this particular bank."

"I hope to contribute with my colleagues in the executive management and other members of the staff to take BIsB to higher horizons that we hope to achieve and which it is worthy of achieving." He added.

Mr. Nader Mohamed Ebrahim was born in Bahrain. He is married and has 4 children. His academic qualifications include higher studies in executive management at Virginia University in the United States. He completed his university studies in business administration in the UK. He also attended a number of internationally recognized professional courses in the United States, UK, Hong Kong and Greece.

Bahrain Islamic Bank (BIsB) was established in 1979 as the first Islamic commercial bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain, ever since the Bank enjoyed a remarkable growth with its shareholders' equity amounting to about BD72 million and total assets exceeded BD320 million as at the end of 2005.

Publicly listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange, the Bank, with a Bahrainisation percentage of 98%, is owned largely by prominent local and regional financial institutions and is regulated by the Bahrain Monetary Agency (BMA).