AHLI UNITED BANK KUWAIT – CEO LEADERSHIP SERIES

Richard Groves, Chief Executive Officer of Ahli United Bank Kuwait – full interview with Robin Amlôt of CPI Financial.
An in-depth review of the bank’s performance and of its plans for and place in the future economic development of Kuwait.
Richard Groves, was appointed CEO in 2015. He has three decades of experience in the areas of banking and finance. Among his previous positions, he has served as both Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of The Saudi British Bank (SABB). Other posts held within the HSBC Group include Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Oman, Chairman of SABB Securities, Deputy Chairman of HSBC Saudi Arabia and Director of HSBC Bank Egypt.
Ahli United Bank (Kuwait) lays claim to being the first bank in Kuwait, having been established under the name Imperial Bank of Persia in 1941. In 1971, when the original concession expired, the bank was renamed Bank of Kuwait and Middle East and transferred to Kuwaiti ownership.
Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank Group became a major shareholder in the bank in 2002 and the following year the bank was rebranded as Ahli United Bank (Kuwait). It converted into a Shari’ah–compliant institution in 2010.
Robin Amlôt spoke to Richard Groves at the bank’s head office in Kuwait, asking him about the reasoning behind the decision to switch from conventional to Islamic finance.