S&P Global Ratings, a leading provider of credit ratings, has announced the appointment of Hadi Melki as managing director and regional head for its Middle East business.

Melki joins S&P Global Ratings from Thomson Reuters, where he spent the last 20 years, culminating as regional business leader in the Gulf.

Based in S&P Global Ratings’ office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Melki will focus on strengthening the credit rating agency’s presence in the region and expanding its programme of thematic research and thought leadership within the financial community.

Jan Willem Plantagie, head of EMEA, S&P Global Ratings, said: “We are delighted Hadi has joined S&P Global Ratings to lead our operations in the Middle East. His wealth of experience in capital markets, business development, risk management, governance and investor relations, positions him perfectly to cement S&P Global Ratings’ role in the ongoing development of transparent and liquid debt markets in the dynamic Middle East region.”

Melki said: “I am looking forward to leveraging my lengthy industry experience and extensive network to lead S&P Global Ratings in the Middle East during this exciting period of change for financial markets.

“Having been established in the Middle East since 2008, S&P Global Ratings has consistently supported investors to facilitate their objective assessment of risk; so I am excited to continue to engage with debt issuers, investors, intermediaries and policymakers to contribute to the ability of companies and governments to raise capital and inject further liquidity into regional markets.”

The appointment of Melki follows the expansion of S&P Global Ratings’ operations into Saudi Arabia last month as it became the first international credit rating agency to be licensed to conduct credit rating activities in the country. Saudi national Meshari Al-Khaled was appointed as S&P Global Ratings’ managing director and office head for its Saudi Arabian branch.

S&P Global Ratings has more than one million credit ratings currently issued on governments, financial institutions and corporations around the world. S&P Global’s four business divisions – S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Dow Jones Indices and S&P Global Platts – all have a presence in the Middle East. – TradeArabia News Service