MENA FINANCIAL CRIME COMPLIANCE GROUP

Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks

A career development, Mr. Wissam H. FATTOUH became the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks in November 2010. As such, he leads the largest banking consortium in the region and the sole representative of the Arab banking community, which aims at the development and advancement of the banking and financial markets, in addition to the crossborder relations and exchange of expertise with international counterparts.
Mr. Fattouh has excellent knowledge and expertise in Arab and International banking and financial sectors, acquired from over 25 years of experience in this domain, and through extensive and close relations with MENA Region, Europe and United States of America, in addition to regional/ International financial and regulatory bodies. His remarkable contact portfolio with Heads of States, officials, ministers, politicians, Governors and regulators, and excellent liaison with banks and financial institutions’ chairmen, CEOs and heads through years of direct and careful relations acted as the vote of confidence for his evident rise to this position.
Before his current position, Mr. Fattouh served as the Acting Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, Director of Conferences Department at UAB and Manager of Databank and Information Technology. He gained a worldwide network of communication and Economic Knowledge through innovatively organizing, and supervising international, regional and local Conferences, Forums and Seminars on banking and financial matters in cooperation with the likes of the US Department of the Treasury, World Bank, IMF, IFC, FATF, United Nation Security Council, European Banking Federations and various international governmental offices.
He established the new line of technical Forums that excelled for its scientific importance and established a number of Professional Groups and Associations, Group of Certified Compliance Officers (GCCO) in MENA Region, Group of Certified Risk Managers (GCRM), in addition to 3 main initiatives for Private Sector Dialogue (PSD): US-MENA PSD, EU-MENA PSD, and TK-MENA PSD, it is a dialogue between the Arab Banking community and its counterparts from Turkey, European Union and United States. The Turkish-Arab, EU-Arab, and US-Arab banking dialogue initiatives cover matters of laws and regulations, investment, trade including Basel recommendations, AML/CFT acts, FATCA law, Derisking, Correspondent banking and others.
Through his suave yet professional persona backed with years of expertise and an eye for the future, Mr. Fattouh has managed to raise funds on continuous basis to get the UAB to the highest standard of professionalism while using advanced technologies and relying on the best human resources. He managed to transform the UAB into an internationally renowned organization with a say on the international banking and financial fronts.

Mr. Fattouh was born in Beirut in September 1965. Married with two children and is a graduate from the Lebanese American University in Beirut class of 1989 and MBA, London 2016. He is fluent in Arabic, English and a good commend of the French language.

Current positions:

• Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks
• Vice President of the Executive Office of The Qualified Arab Unions -League of Arab Sates
• Secretary General of the World Union of Arab Bankers
• Chairman of MENA FCCG (MENA Financial Crime Compliance Group)
• International Ambassador for Social Responsibility, Regional CSR Network for Social Responsibility, Bahrain.
• Member of the “Higher Coordination Committee for Joint Arab Action” –
  League of Arab States, Egypt
• Member of Board of Trustees of Arab Open University, KSA
  Chairman, His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal bin Abdulaziz
  Co-Chair, HM Queen Rania Al Abdullah.
• Member of the Executive Council – Arab Organization for Tourism, KSA.
  President, H.E. Dr. Bandar bin Fahd Al-Fuhaid – Jeddah
• Member of Board of Trustees of The Arab Academy for Management Banking
  & Financial Sciences, Egypt
• Observer Member – Board of Governors of Central Banks and Arab Monetary
  Institutions, Arab Monetary Fund, UAE
  Chairman, H.E. Dr. Abdulrahman Al Hamidy
• Members of the MENA-OECD Working Group on Corporate Governance, Paris
• Member of the General Assembly and Member of the Board of Directors of the
  International Council of the Arabic Language, UAE.
• Member of United Nations Environment Programme – Finance Initiative,
  Switzerland – Geneva.
• Member/Participant of International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI), c/o
  Bank for International Settlements, Basel – Switzerland
• Member of Advisory Board-Business School, Beirut Arab University, Lebanon
• Member of the Board of Trustees of the Beirut Economic Council.
• Observer Member – Arab Union for Small Enterprises, Egypt
• Member of the Advisory Board of MEA Logistics Council – GCEL
• Member of the Board – Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists
  (ACFCS), USA / 2014-2019

MENA FCCG Founder and Deputy Chair

Joined Arab Bank plc in November 2005 as the Global Head of Group Regulatory Compliance and chairs the Bank’s Ethics Committee. Mr. Matossian has more than 35 years of experience in regulatory risk management, anti-money laundering, and compliance. Prior to joining Arab Bank, his roles included serving as Chief Compliance Officer, Director of Regulatory Risk Management, Director of Anti-Money Laundering, and General Auditor at three different leading U.S. financial institutions; he spent 10 years working at a “Big Four” public accounting firm, and two years with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Mr. Matossian participates on several national and international task forces addressing anti-money laundering, governance, and compliance matters and also serves as Vice Chair of the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime – MENA Chapter. He holds the following certifications: Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, Certified Risk Professional, Certified Fraud Examiner, and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist.