Network International announces senior appointments

• Strengthens customer-centric proposition across all geographies

Dubai, 22 March, 2021: Network International, the leading enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa (MEA), is announcing a number of key appointments across its Senior Management team. These appointments also include the internal promotion of several employees, expanding the responsibility of some existing Senior Management team members, and the external hire of Marcello Baricordi. These changes align Network’s business verticals to better serve clients and include the appointment of local country heads to oversee geographic growth.

These appointments are as follows:

New hire:

• Marcello Baricordi, President - Financial Institutions, Fintechs and Payments Partnerships, to oversee all execution relating to servicing financial institutions across the Middle East and Africa.

Internal appointments:

• Rohit Malhotra, Group Chief Financial Officer, will take on the additional responsibility of Group Chief Strategy Officer to lead corporate development and growth through mergers and acquisitions.
• Andrew Key, currently Managing Director – Africa, will now become President – Merchants & Governments, responsible for end-to-end servicing of merchant and government clients across the Middle East and Africa.
• Ian Jiggens, President - Advisory & Information Services, will be responsible for developing and commercializing Network’s suite of capabilities in Advisory and Information Services, leveraging analytics and data related products. This is a newly created position.

Further, Network International has appointed the following as country heads to lead growth in their respective regions. These are new leadership positions, all of which have been internal promotions, and now report directly into Nandan Mer, Chief Executive Officer:

• Ahmed Bin Tarraf, Regional President – UAE, overseeing Network’s largest market.
• Amjad Al Sadeq, Regional President – Levant, managing business in the Levant region, including driving new growth opportunities.
• Hany Fekry, Regional President - Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, responsible for business in the Northern and Sub-Sahara region of Africa.
• Hamish Houston, Regional President - Southern Africa, responsible for business in the Southern Africa and PALOPS region (Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique and São Tomé e Principe).
• Al Hamedi Alanezi, Acting President - KSA Business, driving new opportunities for Network International in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Members of Network’s Leadership Team also include:

• Mark Diamond, President, Operations and Technology
• Jaishree Razzaq, Group Chief Risk Officer and Group Company Secretary
• Hend Al Ali, Group Chief Human Resources Officer
• Mona Al Ghurair, Group Chief Marketing Officer
• Ian Cox, Group Chief Internal Auditor.

Nandan Mer, Group Chief Executive Officer of Network International, said, “This is an exciting time for the payments industry. As we respond to an acceleration to cashless economies driven by evolving payment trends and consumer behaviour, we firmly believe that Network is poised for greater growth. Our transformation journey will strengthen our offering to clients, enabling us to create customer-centric, innovative propositions that truly empower consumers and economies and create financial inclusion.”