BNY Mellon Makes Changes to Leadership Team in Middle East

BNY Mellon has made key changes to its leadership team in the United Arab Emirates and wider Middle East & Africa region.

Tarek Sherlala has been appointed senior executive officer, Dubai branch. As an authorized person under the auspices of the Dubai Financial Services Authority, Sherlala will lead on business strategy for the branch and oversee compliance of BNY Mellon’s activities within the Dubai International Financial Centre. He will also continue as the company’s head of Asset Servicing business in the Middle East & Africa region. Sherlala has over 20 years of banking experience, including senior roles in the US, Egypt, Libya and the UAE.

Sherlala will work alongside Rajai Ayyash, regional executive for the Gulf region. For the past 10 years, Ayyash has been country executive for the UAE, Kuwait and Oman, and since early 2014 has held overall responsibility for three additional key markets in the region: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.

Clive Robinson has relocated to Dubai from the Netherlands with a brief to develop Asset Servicing business across the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

The announcement of these leadership changes follows the retirement of Tarek Elrefai, who has been senior executive officer, Dubai branch and head of client management for the Middle East & Africa region for the past five years.
As part of its ongoing commitment to providing innovative solutions and the highest levels of service to its clients both in the UAE and across the wider Middle East & Africa region, BNY Mellon has over the past year strengthened its regional team and expanded the scope of its business activities to help its clients to grow and prosper.

Peter Paul Pardi, co-chairman of Middle East & Africa at BNY Mellon, said: “Over the past year or so we have appointed of a number of highly experienced industry professionals across both our Investment Services and Investment Management groups. Those appointments demonstrate our clear commitment to investing in our people and our business as we continue to build out innovative solutions and deliver service excellence to support our banks, sovereigns and corporate issuers across the investment lifecycle.”