Kareem Refaay

Kareem Refaay is the Managing Director MENA & GCC (The Middle East North Africa & Gulf Council Countries) at The London Institute of Banking & Finance, a registered charity incorporated by the Royal Charter and focused on financial education. He has over 18 years of experience as a financial educator and as an executive for top financial institutions such as GCC Financial Institutions including Standard Chartered, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Gulf International Bank, and Al Hilal Bank.

Kareem holds a Bachelor's degree in Management Sciences from SADAT Academy for Management Sciences, a Diploma in International Business from University of Cambridge, and an MBA in Strategic Management from the University of Atlanta.

Kareem has led Learning and Development, Talent management functions, and consulted and trained extensively all over the GCC, Middle East, as well as Africa, and Europe.

Kareem has worked for the National bank of Abu Dhabi in 2009 as an Assistant Vice President of Learning and Development, and in 2013, as Group Talent Manager. In between, he also worked for the Gulf International Bank, Bahrain as Vice President of Learning Development.

In his latest role as MD MENA & GCC at The London Institute of Banking & Finance (LIBF), he oversees the organisation’s developments in providing financial qualifications at GCSE and A Level, degrees in banking and finance, postgraduate qualifications and professional qualifications for those working in the finance sector or aspiring to do so.

As a global thought leader, he has appeared in multiple talk shows and has moderated various events, including the WETEX and Dubai Solar Show where he moderated the session on ‘Climate Finance in the MENA Region: Challenges and Opportunities’. Recently, he has been interviewed by global media outlets like Bloomberg News, where he discussed the recent global interest in investments in the GCC Markets.