Ithmaar Bank, a leading Bahrain-based Islamic retail bank, has announced the promotion of two key members of its management team and the appointment of a third.

Abdulla Abdulaziz Ali Taleb was promoted to assistant general manager, head of the Commercial and Financial Institutions department; Ahmed Fareed Saud Buqais was promoted to senior manager and assigned head of Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure and Operations in the IT department; and Rashed Ahmed Rashed Almuawada was appointed as a manager Information Security and Compliance, Risk Management department.

Ithmaar Bank chief executive officer Ahmed Abdul Rahim said the announcement is in-line with the bank’s long-standing commitments to reinforcing its merit-based culture and to developing its national workforce.

“Ithmaar Bank recognises its employees as its greatest asset, and we have long maintained that, ultimately, it is our people who drive our growth and continued success. As a result, we work to continuously enhance our well established performance-focused culture of equal opportunity,” he said.

“These latest promotions and appointment underscore how seriously we take these commitments, and I wish Abdulla, Ahmed and Rashed continued success in the careers,” said Abdul Rahim. “I am confident that, with their contributions, the Bank will continue to grow towards our shared vision of becoming the region’s premier Islamic retail bank,” he said.

“As a pioneering Islamic retail bank, Ithmaar Bank has also long-recognised the important role we must play in contributing to the development of Bahrain’s Islamic banking industry. This includes continuously developing our own national workforce through various training opportunities,” he added.

Taleb, who was previously executive senior manager, head, of the Commercial and Financial Institutions department since March 2015, joined Ithmaar Bank as a Senior Manager in the Corporate Banking department in January 2014. He had previously worked with BMI Bank, First Investment Bank, Shamil Bank, Khaleej Finance and Investments, the University of Bahrain and Standard Chartered Bank. Taleb holds a B.Sc. in Banking and Finance from Kingdom University in Bahrain, an Advanced Diploma in Islamic Banking from the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance and an Associate Diploma in Economics from the University of Bahrain.

Buqais, who was previously a Manager in the IT department since September 2014, joined Ithmaar Bank as a Senior Associate in the same department in October 2012. He had previously worked with Arcapita Bank, Durrat Al Bahrain Management, Exceed IT Services and Civil Aviation Affairs. Buqais holds certificate in management and leadership from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), is a Certified Information System Auditor, ISACA, and an Information Security Management Systems Auditor/Lead Auditor (Based on ISO/IEC 27001:2013), and hold a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University College of Bahrain.

Almuawada joined Ithmaar Bank in July  from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) which he joined in May 2011 and served first as a senior system administrator and then as a senior analyst in the Information Security department. He had previously worked with Meinhardt Bahrain, Nue-Tel Communication and InfoCall. Almuawada holds a BSc in Mobile and Network engineering from the Ahlia University. – TradeArabia News Service