The Abu Dhabi Financial Services (ADFS), the financial brokerage arm of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and one of the leading brokerage companies in the UAE, TODAY announced the appointment of Mr. Aymen Samawi as the Managing Director of ADFS.
Mr. Samawi holds a BA in International Business from Texas Wesleyan University. He joins ADFS with than more two decades of experience working in the financial services industry in the United States and the UAE.
Immediately before joining ADFS, Mr. Samawi was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Finance Brokerage Company (NFBC), a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Company. Between 1995 and 2005 and again from 2007 to 2008, he served in a number of senior positions at ICAP, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker based in New York City. Mr. Samawi served as the Executive Vice President at ICAP North America in New York in addition to spearheading the ICAP venture in property derivatives information business as CEO. He also held past positions with ICAP's interest rates division as Vice President and later as Managing Director. He founded BroadReach Financial Group in 2005 and served as the chief executive of the Dubai-based financial advisory for two years. He also co-founded Capstone/Pinnacle Global Energy in 1999 and served as its managing director and chief operating officer for four years.
Prior to Capstone, Mr. Samawi was Vice President at Tullet & Tokyo in New York, where he founded the relative value group.
During his professional journey, Mr. Samawi has built strong relationships and networks with major investors, corporate and financial institutions and gained experience in all aspects of financial industry.
Commenting on the appointment of Mr. Samawi, Mr. Michael Tomalin, NBAD’s Group Chief Executive said: “I welcome Mr. Aymen Samawi to the senior executive team at NBAD. The Bank has achieved excellent financial returns for its shareholders over the last several years and Aymen joins to strengthen the team to help achieve our growth targets. He will continue the development of a world-class financial brokerage business focusing on meeting the needs of investors in the UAE, GCC and round the world”.
Mr. Samawi, the Managing Director of ADFS, plans to utilize the significant strengths of the NBAD brand to deliver the highest standard of services and to focus on customer satisfaction. He will tackle the competition by ensuring a clear positioning strategy for ADFS supported by an established and well experienced team. His growth plans for the brokerage arm of NBAD include diversification and specific client targets.
“Throughout my career, I always strived to be part of a team that is or determined to be number one while adhering to best corporate global business and ethics practices. I would continue this journey with NBAD, as I believe in NBAD’s vision of becoming the Number One Bank in the Arab world,” Mr. Samawi said.
“Based on performance and reputation, NBAD is an industry leader in the UAE. ADFS is one of the top three primary brokers in the UAE. I want to be where things are developing, changing, and growing. ADFS is to grow strategically, through market diversification and specific client targets," he added.
