Who hired in the Middle East in March?

After a quiet start to the year, a number of both local and international banks have unveiled some senior appointments during the month of March.

Barclays Natural Resource Investments has bolstered its Qatar team with the appointment of Jongghun Lee as managing director.

Citigroup has appointed Sharad Gupta as head of its Bahraini corporate banking operations and also named Riad Azzi as senior legal counsel for Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

Deutsche Bank has named Rafik Nayed, the former interim CEO of the Libyan Investment Authority, as vice chairman for the Middle East and North Africa. He will report to Ashok Aram, Deutsche Bank’s chief executive officer for the MENA region.

The First Investor QSC, the investment banking subsidiary of Qatari institution Barwa Bank, has appointed Khalid al Subeai as its new chief executive officer. He was previously with Morgan Stanley.

Gulf Bank has named Omar Kutayba Alghanim as its new chairman following the resignation of Mahmoud Al Nouri for health reasons.

Gulf Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of Shuaa Capital, has hired Jonathan Swann as chief financial officer from J.P. Morgan. It has also named Chris Waring as chief operating officer from Barclays in London.

Linklaters, the law firm, has recruited Neil Miller as its new global head of Islamic finance based out of Dubai. He was previously global head of Islamic finance at KPMG.

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi has hired Faisal Ahmad into the newly created role of head of investment advisory for its private bank. He joins from Societe Generale private banking.

The QFC Regulatory Authority has named Otello R. Sturino as its new chief operating officer.

QInvest, the Qatari institution, has hired Nasser Abdullah Al Mahmoud as director within its investment banking division. He was previously with QNB Capital.

Shuaa Capital has named Sabah al-Binali as its new chief investment officer and chief executive officer of its credit division. He joined the bank last year as vice chairman of Gulf Finance Corporation.

Standard Chartered has made some more senior appointments. Deanna Othman has been named head of consumer banking in Qatar and Imran Sarwar has been appointed as its new head of origination and client coverage for the UAE.

TVM Capital, the health and pharmaceutical-focused private equity firm, has appointed Sameer Al Ansari to its board. He was previously CEO at Shuaa Capital.

United Arab Bank has named Faisal Al Najjar as senior vice president and head of liabilities. He was previously with Mashreq.