E17 Mohamed Rasheed Almaraj | Digital Bank CEO (ila Bank) | Transforming financial services in the Middle East and beyond

What was it like being named CEO during the pandemic?

Mohamed Rasheed Almaraj is the Chief Executive Officer of ila Bank, a digital retail bank established in Bahrain. A wholly owned subsidiary of Bank ABC, ila is the first cloud-based, digital, mobile-only bank in the Middle East… and it’s just getting started with its plans to expand to the rest of the region, North Africa, and beyond.

Prior to this appointment, Mohamed served as the COO of ila Bank and previously played a key role in several group level initiatives of Bank ABC as Vice President of Group Strategy. He also did investment banking at Perella Weinberg Partners in New York, where he worked in corporate mergers & acquisitions.

While he has a wealth of experience in corporate finance, investments, restructuring, and digital transformation, Mohamed comes alive when speaking about the human side of banking – helping customers meet their needs, working on offerings for small businesses, and catering to Bahrain’s diverse population (predominantly expats, very tech-savvy!) and customers who practice sharia banking, among others.

On this episode, Mohamed chats with us about navigating change, the progressive regulatory landscape for fintech in Bahrain, turning failures into lessons, and how leadership and mentoring will ultimately be his legacy.

This episode is dedicated to anyone leading an organization through uncharted waters.

Learn more about ila bank:

@ilabankbhr on IG and FB

On LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/ilabank/

https://www.arabianbusiness.com/banking-finance/439929-bahrains-digital-only-bank-appoints-new-ceo

See Mohamed discuss ila bank:

Bahrain Today – The story behind ila Bank https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RejcVtDfdo

FT Global Banking Summit – Banking the Underbanked: Bridging the digital divide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnCdw9soipk

RBR Self-Service Banking Conference – Enabling emerging technologies to digitally onboard new customers within 5 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1zlx4ddcGA

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Music: “Neon Laser Horizon” by Kevin MacLeod (imcompetech.com) licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Sound Editing by franticsong

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xoxo Jo