The Eighth Annual WealthBriefing MENA Awards for Excellence 2021

Alain Baron is an experienced investment professional, who has worked in the wealth management practice in the MENA Region for over 15 years building long-term investment objectives to maintain and grow investors wealth. He joined Mirabaud Bank in 2012 and is currently serving as managing director, head of MENA markets. Since then he has aligned interests between family businesses through creating a mutual investment philosophy. As a non-executive director, Alain Baron is a member of the board of directors for Proton Partners International specialising in the development of the largest global network of proton beam therapy cancer centres across UK and the international market

Bruce is a chartered accountant with over 37 years financial services experience, previously a partner in PwC, latterly as Global leader of their Wealth Management practice and the key driver of their bi-annual Wealth Management Report. Bruce is now CEO of Weatherill Consulting providing advice on client centricity and wider strategic matters to wealth managers. He is the author of The Value of Trust: the quest by Wealth Managers for Trusted Advisor status and a number of other thought leadership reports. Bruce is chairman of ClearView Financial Media and a non-executive of a number of companies including Fidelity Holdings UK, The Wisdom Council, ComPeer, JDX Consulting and Ten Group.

Daniel is the Managing Partner of Sigma Private Office, part of the Sigma Group. He has been advising HNW and UHNW individuals since 2006 and is an expert in Investment Management Solutions for international clients. Starting his career in the City of London as a Stockbroker with a focus on US equities and Alternative Investments, he moved to the British Private Bank, Arbuthnot Latham in 2011, where he served as Director Investment Management as part of the Investment Committee until 2015 before moving to head up the bank’s Investment Management team in the Middle East, as Investment Director. In 2021 Daniel founded Sigma Private Office and continues to work with long standing clients in the region and abroad. Daniel enjoys various sporting activities and is a keen golfer. Given his experience Daniel regularly commentates in the press and on panels as a subject expert and holds various professional qualifications through the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI).

With more than 31 years’ banking experience in the UAE, Mannan Adenwalla assumed the role of managing director of private banking and asset management group, LGT (Middle East) in 2012. Mannan had previously been managing director of Clariden Leu Asset Management, Dubai which he set up and then led for six years.

Before this he worked for ABN AMRO Bank, where he managed his clients and a team of relationship managers for nearly ten years. Having begun his career in the banking industry in 1984, Mannan’s responsibilities at LGT include developing the business across non-resident Indian and subcontinent markets.

Patrick is currently an executive director at Banque Richelieu GCC after joining fromDeutsche Bank Wealth Management Dubai. His previous position was senior vice president at DBS Private Banking Dubai. Patrick aims to exploit his reputation as a trusted advisor with entrepreneurial families to help drive the bank’s growth in the ultra-high net worth NRI private client segments, principally in the ME and Africa. Patrick’s 20-plus years’ experience in the sector began at Allied Irish Banks where he rose through the ranks to head up its deposit-taking unit in Jersey. His subsequently moved to BNP Paribas, then Bank of Nova Scotia before joining ABN AMRO Jersey where he rose to become head of private banking and later its country head. He moved to Dubai to join Lombard Odier in 2012.

Samira has over 20 years of Wealth Management & Private Banking experience at senior level in MENA, Europe and Asia.

Samira served as Head of Private Banking at National Bank of Dubai and Head of Ultra High Net Worth at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, progressing to MD & Global Head of PB & KCG for First Abu Dhabi bank.

Throughout her tenor, she has remained focused on client propositions and solutions both regionally as well as internationally.

Samira remains instrumental in developing and growing wealth management across the GCC region. In 2019, she was
recognised in the industry as ‘Leading Woman in Wealth Management – MENA’ by WealthBriefing MENA Awards.

Stela comes from over 20 years of experience in the global financial markets and banking services in Western Europe and the Middle East. She is currently heading Index & Cie, a DFSA-regulated wealth manager, practitioner of the Value Investing philosophy applied to permanent capital of HNWIs. Her management style and ideas brought about a radical change and new drive to Index & Cie in ever-changing market conditions in the UAE and globally.

Prior to her current CEO position, Stela held multiple senior leadership roles for National Bank of Abu Dhabi, now First Abu Dhabi Bank, and acted as Chief Operating Officer for boutique wealth managers in Dubai. She began her career with Citigroup in 2002 in Milan, Italy, where she spent more than 10 years in the Global Transaction Services covering various operational and managerial positions.

As head of Mashreq Private, Vipul ensures that every client receives bespoke wealth management  solutions and a holistic banking experience from anywhere in the world. Vipul joined Mashreq as the  Head of Private Banking after 25 years with Citibank. Over the last five years, in addition to heading  the Mashreq Private, he is also responsible for the bank’s Wealth Products & Platform. 

Vipul brings over 30 years of experience spanning across Consumer Banking and Private Wealth  Management in building businesses, managing change, strategic development, mentoring fintech  start-ups, implementing technology platforms & nurturing leadership talent. 

At Citi, he was responsible for establishing new markets in MENA & Europe and heading several  international businesses including the Global Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Wealth business, the  Consumer Bank for UK and the Citi IPB, Private client wealth business for EMEA. During his tenure, he  developed & grew the NRI Private wealth business in UAE before heading the Global NRI Business. As  head of the UK Consumer & IPB private wealth business for EMEA he was responsible for managing  long-term growth strategy including restructuring the businesses to a digital best-in-class wealth  business for affluent clients across EMEA. 

Vipul has worked across several countries and regions including India, Singapore, Dubai, Bahrain and  most recently London. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance degrees from Institute  of Chartered Accountants of India where he ranked 7th across India & Institute of Cost &  management accountants of India where he was a gold medalist in accounting.

Cécile is the CEO for Trustconsult in Switzerland as well as Head of Private Client for the Trustconsult Group. She has an extensive wealth & estate planning career, earning a solid reputation for her work on international trust & foundation. Her experience includes managing complex & sophisticated trust and corporate structures for private and corporate clients located around the globe, including Latin America and Asia but more specifically in the Middle East.

Cecile is chairing the Wealth Management & Estate Planning focus Group of XLNC, she is also an active member of several significant professional bodies including The International Bar Association (IBA) and The International Tax Planning Association (ITPA). Former Chairwoman of the STEP branch in Geneva and also Former Chairwoman of the STEP Swiss & Liechtenstein Federation, acknowledged as a "prominent figure in the Leading Trustees" category of CityWealth Leaders List. Cécile has also been a presiding judge for the STEP Private Client Awards and for WealthBriefing Awards Switzerland & Liechtenstein for many years.

Cécile has qualifications in company law and practice, tax compliance, international trust
management, trust administration and accounts, and trust creation.

Craig has over 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry globally, having held senior management positions in fund management firms, investment banking and fund administration. He is keenly involved in the development of practices and the landscape of the financial services sector and his expertise and advice is often sought by major stakeholders in the sector.
Prior to joining Apex, Craig was Senior Executive Officer with RoC Capital Management (Dubai) Ltd. and responsible for developing the firm to manage fund structures based in a variety of jurisdictions and covering a full range of investment strategies and structures. Craig also served as a Director with Sanne Group Dubai Limited. where he was responsible for the group's open-ended fund administration service. Other earlier roles included Chief Financial Officer at United Investment Bank Limited and Chief Executive Officer at Apex Fund Services (Dubai) Ltd. where he established the first fund administration provider to be approved by the DFSA.
Craig holds several other directorship roles in financial services companies and investment funds.
He is also a member of Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand.

Gary Dugan is CEO of The Global CIO Office and of Asset Manager, Purple Asset Management based in Singapore. Gary Dugan is a seasoned investment professional with 37 years’ experience working in Managing Director roles at some of the world’s leading Banks and Wealth Managers. For the past twenty years he has held Chief Investment Officer roles manging money for institutions such as sovereign wealth funds through to Ultra- High Net Worth clients. For the core of Gary’s career (1993-2004) he worked at JPMorgan. Subsequently he held CIO roles at Barclays, Merrill Lynch in Europe, and Emirates NBD and NBAD in the Middle East. Gary is well-known in the industry for his outspoken but often-timely call on financial markets. He has a track record of calling the markets crashes of 1987 and 2007 and the tech wreck of 2000. But he also saw the upside in markets advising clients at Merrill Lynch to buy equities on March 17th, 2009 within two days of the market low. More recently he was advising extreme caution on markets in early February 2020. His views are widely featured on TV and quoted in the financial media. He regularly speaks at investment conferences throughout, the Middle East and Asia. In 2015, he was awarded GCC Private Banker of the year by Wealth Briefing. He has a degree in Economics from Salford University. He is an ASIP in the CFA Institute.

Jacques-Antoine Lecointre serves as the COO of Santander Private Banking International in the Middle East. He is based in Dubai from where he oversees the regional operations as well as the External Asset Managers platform. Before joining Santander, he had similar positions for BNP Paribas Wealth Management in the Region, for the Global South Asia and Middle East business of Bank of Singapore and for Barclays Wealth Management where he spent more than 10+ years across Europe and the Middle East. Jacques-Antoine brings over 20+ years of experience gained across multiple roles within the front, back and product office.

Laurence is the Regional Director, Client Solutions, EMEA for Asiaciti Trust in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He joined Asiaciti Trust in late 2012 and has over 35 years’ experience in the offshore finance industry. Based in the Middle East for the past 28 years he has particular skills and experience in cross border planning, the establishment of offshore trusts, foundations and company formation. Laurence also acts as a Non-executive Director for GSB Capital Ltd in the Dubai International Financial Centre. Before joining Asiaciti Trust he held a number of senior positions within the Trust & Fiduciary industry and more recently was Head of Fiduciary Services, MENAP for a major international financial institution in the Dubai International Financial Centre. In these roles he successfully serviced clients in the EMEA region with their international needs and works closely with other cross border specialists in the establishment of international trusts and a variety of investment structures. Laurence maintains a comprehensive knowledge of legislative changes and industry trends affecting cross-border issues. He is a full member of STEP Worldwide (Society of Trust and Estate Planners) and was the founding Chairman of STEP Arabia.

Sabila is CEO and Founder of Din Consultants, HQ in London and is an accomplished global business management, marketing and gender specialist. She works with global private banks, elite family offices and entrepreneurs - delivering propositions for growth. She works extensively with World Bank/IFC across EMEA, building financial capacity to drive female SME growth and gender financial inclusion. In addition to her consultancy, she also runs a ‘property private client office’. Prior to setting up her businesses, she held senior roles at ABN AMRO, Asia, JWT HK and was an Associate, IBM e-business fs consultant, EMEA.

Sebastian is a senior banker and has been working in the Middle East since 2006. He started his career with Credit Suisse where for 14 years based in London, Zurich and Dubai he focused on investment banking services for UHNW and family office private banking clients. For UBS Wealth Management based in Dubai Sebastian was head of the firm’s representative office before moving to Asia as head of the MENA region based in Singapore.

Sebastian also has experience in Great Wealth and acted as Senior Investment Adviser to the Chairman of Equalis, a DIFC based Private Investment Company. Sebastian is currently Chief Representative Officer, MENA & Asia for The Mauritius Commercial Bank.

Yann is the Managing Partner of M/HQ. He chiefly focuses on private wealth and immigration practice. He has vast experience advising successful individuals and entrepreneurial families with Middle Eastern exposure on implementing inter-generational wealth transfer strategies and structuring their operational assets and global wealth. He is regularly involved in the ongoing management of such structures – as a board member, council member, guardian or protector. Yann is recommended by all of Chambers & Partners Private wealth, Legal Week’s Private Client Global Elite and Who’s who legal private client. He was the Chair of STEP Arabia from 2015 to 2018