Prior to his current appointment, Stuart Pearce had a long and successful career in international banking and financial services with HSBC in the Middle East, North America, Asia and Europe.   

In 1992 he was appointed CEO of HSBC Private Banking Europe and Middle East, directly overseeing HSBC’s Private Banking operations in Switzerland and London. In 1997 he was appointed Chief Executive and Country Manager at HSBC Japan.  During his tenure he was also Chairman of the International Bankers Association in Japan, and a member of the board of HSBC Securities and the British Chamber of Commerce.

In 2001 Stuart Pearce was appointed HSBC’s Head of Corporate Banking in the UK, and in 2002 he took up the new appointment of CEO of HSBC Investment Management, in which he designed and implemented a strategy to create an integrated investment management business. 

He retired from HSBC in May 2005 and was appointed Chief Executive and Director General of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority. The Centre is designed to attract international financial services institutions and major multi-national corporations to share in a long-term and mutually beneficial partnership with Qatar.

Philip Thorpe is Chairman & CEO, Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority - In 1981 he moved to Hong Kong, and held various positions with the Hong Kong Securities Commission. In 1987 Mr. Thorpe was appointed CEO of the Hong Kong Futures Exchange. Other positions Mr Thorpe has held include; CEO of the Association of Futures Brokers and Dealers, CEO of the London Commodity Exchange, Chief Executive of Investment Management Regulatory Organisation (IMRO), Managing Director of the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) and CEO of the Washington DC based Institute of Financial Markets. 

In 2002, Mr Thorpe was appointed to oversee the construction of the legal framework and the regulatory processes that led to the establishment of the Dubai Financial Services Authority in 2004, before taking up his current post as QFC Regulatory Authority Chairman & CEO. 

Jane Kang Thorpe is Chief Legal Officer and Board Secretary of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority.  Previously she was General Counsel and Company Secretary of the Dubai International Financial Exchange responsible for market regulation and exchange membership. 

Before coming to the Middle East Ms Thorpe was Director of the Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  Her Division was responsible for the licensing and supervision of US hedge funds and futures brokers and for the financial integrity of transactions on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the New York Mercantile Exchange and other US futures exchanges. Before accepting this appointment, Ms Thorpe was with the law firm of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood where she was US counsel to leading international securities and derivative exchanges and represented major international investment banks, broker-dealers, swap dealers and investment advisors.
 
Ms Thorpe received her B.A. with honors in Political Science from George Washington University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University. 

Michael Azmi-Loe joined Commercial bank as Chief Risk Officer in March 2006. In March 2007 he was made Deputy CEO with oversight of the Risk and Finance Business Units and the Al Safa Islamic Bank, whilst broadening his responsibility for the day to day management of other Cb units during the course of the year.

Prior to coming to Doha, Mr. Azmi-Loe spent 1 year with Samba Financial Group in Riyadh in a Senior Risk position, and 24 years with Citigroup, where his last assignment was as Business Head, Western Hemisphere, Global Risk Architecture, maximizing his prior experience in risk, which included roles as  the  Risk Head in Malaysia, Thailand and India. Whilst in Citi, he also completed 3 years audit experience covering North Asia , and  was Head of the Distressed Assets unit in Brasil.  Before joining Citibank he worked with Lloyds Bank International in Brasil as a Relationship Banker, following prior financial and commercial experience in the UK.

Mr. Azmi-Loe is a British National, born and raised in Brazil.

As an Administrator with the Secretariat of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Rachelle Boyle’s role is to support the development and implementation of the global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards.

Prior to assuming her role at the FATF, Rachelle headed the international division at Australia’s Financial Intelligence Unit, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.  From 1999 to 2002 Rachelle was a co-chair of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on money laundering’s Underground Banking and Alternative Remittance Systems Working Group.  She has spent over 10 years in Australian law enforcement working on investigations, intelligence, coordination, policy and reform issues associated with organised criminal activity, including money laundering. 

Rachelle is a lawyer who also holds a degree in Science (Psychology) and is currently completing a Masters in Business Administration.

Mohamed Baasiri is Secretary of the Special Investigation Commission for Fighting Money Laundering at the financial intelligence unit in Lebanon and chairman of the US-MENA Private Sector Dialogue (PSD). Mr. Baasiri represented Lebanon in the founding of the Middle East North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF), and is the founding member of the Lebanese Association of CPAs. He has spoken on various AML issues throughout the Middle East, Europe, United States and Canada.

Austin Wiehe is Attaché for the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi. He has worked for many years as a U.S. government analyst supporting the formulation and implementation of U.S. financial sanctions against both countries and persons, as well as analyzing the effectiveness and impact of these programs. Most recently he has served as the Chief of OFAC’s Country Programs Section and Foreign Terrorism Division.

Present - Head of Financial Information Unit October 17, 2004 onwards 
- Member of ‘National Anti-Monety Laundering & Terrorism Financing Committee’
- Member of National Committee for Terrorism Combating
- Representing the State of Qatar in the meetings of:
- FATF
- MENA FATF
- Egmont Group
- Attending Regional & Internatioal Meetings of:
- UN
- Interpol
Previous Experience - 
Banking Inspector, Banking Control Dept. Qatar Central Bank 1993 – 2004
Inspection of all banks operating in Qatar including procedures, trial balance, credits, loans and other facilities, tariffs, interests, percentage of liquidity, reserve requirements, financial capacity, policy of profit and liquidity and compliance of executive directives/instructions etc. of the Bank and preparing pertinent reports.

Jan was born in the Netherlands in 1968 and is both a British and Swiss citizen. Brought up in the Far East, Middle East, Europe and Africa, he was educated in French embassy and British public schools. He is fluent in English, French and Spanish and obtained an MBA (Summa cum laude) from Lausanne in 1993.

Jan’s professional skills combine operational, strategic and consultancy experience at both national and international levels. He is currently Chief Operating Officer at the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) having joined the DFSA at the beginning of 2005.

Prior to the DFSA, Jan spent 7 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in both Geneva and Dubai as a member of the Global Risk Management Practice. He has also held managerial positions in European companies and spent three years as a management consultant with legacy McKinsey Partners. His experience includes the evaluation of venture capital investment opportunities and business plan / private placement memorandum conception. His professional experience with PwC has focused on strategic business consulting, operational risk management / EWRM / Basel II, new methodology development, and has included international mandates spanning over 37 countries from 1998 to 2005. Jan is a regular Key Note speaker on the subjects of Corporate Governance and Risk Management and was one of PwC’s lead experts on both Enterprise Risk Management and Basel II. He was seconded from PwC in Geneva to PwC in Dubai to lead the development of Risk Management Services for the Middle East. Hands-on with a strong action and objective-orientated approach.

From 1998 to 2003 Jan was the President of Executives International, a Swiss based business networking association of 300 members that include Ambassadors, corporate CEOs and senior managers as well as university professors and business entrepreneurs. In 2000, he was elected to the Committee of the British Swiss Chamber of Commerce and remains both a Councillor and Committee Member.

Marc Hambach joined the DFSA in 2003 as one of its initial staff and has taken a leading role in developing and implementing the DIFC AML/CTF regime. Today, Marc is responsible for the prudential oversight and conduct of business supervision of several large European and U.S. institutions in areas of asset management, fund administration, private banking, investment banking and Islamic Finance. In his capacity as Head of AML, Marc is responsible for DFSA’s Anti-Money Laundering function.

Marc holds a Masters Degree in Law from the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He started his career at a German law firm and subsequently engaged as a legal and business consultant focusing on IPO’s.  From 1999 to 2003 he worked for Clearstream International (former Cedel) in Luxembourg. His positions included Company Secretary, Legal Counsel and Head of Compliance.

In 2001, Marc completed the Young Managers Programme of INSEAD International Business School, France. He is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and is currently studying for his LLM in Banking and Finance at the University of London.

Head of AML&CFT Unit at the Commercial Bank of Qatar; responsible for the supervision of the AML & CFT program at Commercial Bank and its Diners Club Franchises, in Qatar, Egypt, Bahrain & Oman. Mohamad is a Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and member of the CAMS Exam Task Force &  World Union of Arab Bankers. A frequent speaker at regional and international conferences with ACAMS, Union of Arab Banks, US-MENA PSD, IMF,  IOPC, and Central Banks, on AML & CFT issues.
 
Mohamad is a former Senior Research Analyst & Investigator with the Special Investigation Commission-SIC -Lebanon’s Financial Information Unit. In charged of  examining banks’ AML & CFT programs; and have lead numerous ML & TF investigations with regional & international counter parts such as; FinCEN, Austrac, and TracFin. Represented the Egmont Group at the FATF/MONEYVAL joint Typology exercise and worked with the president of the MENAFATF on developing the MENAFATF administrative functions during its early set up stages with a special focus on identifying and providing AML/CFT technical assistance needs to member countries.

Michael Lesser has had 35 years of experience as a supervisor of banks and financial institutions. A recipient of the Robert H. McCormick Award for Excellence in International Bank Supervision, he previously worked at the New York State Banking Department as Deputy Superintendent of Banks, with overall responsibility for the supervision of depository institutions. He has headed various divisions at the N.Y. State Banking Department,including Large Complex Banks, Foreign Banks, Research and Technical Assistance and held the position of Chief Bank Examiner. He also had responsibility for overseas examinations and international regulatory liaison. A frequent speaker on BSA/AML compliance and bank supervisory matters, Mr. Lesser has drafted protocols (both interstate and federal-state) for the U.S. foreign bank supervision cooperation agreements. He has also worked on the drafting of the rating system and examination manuals used in the U.S. for offices of foreign banking organizations. Mr. Lesser holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Economics from the City College in New York.

Aline Tufenkjian Aziz, CAMS is one of the Middle East's leading anti-money laundering research professionals. Currently employed at Credit Libanais sal, one of the top ten banks in Lebanon, she coordinates the bank’s anti-money laundering committee. The committee meets periodically to evaluate suspicious cases of money laundering and reports them to the Special Investigations Commission at the Central Bank of Lebanon. Ms. Aziz is currently preparing a PhD on the Private Sector Dialogue (PSD) and Arab-American efforts aiming to counter money laundering and terrorist financing. She is a regular speaker at international conferences with the Union of Arab Banks on issues related to AML-CFT.

Bachir A. Al Nakib, has 35 years banking experience. A former ABN AMRO Senior Officer (Beirut) and Certified AML Specialist (CAMS) & Quality Management System Certified Lead Auditor, he is currently Head of the Compliance Division at Lebanese Canadian Bank, SAL Beirut – Lebanon, where he built the AML Risk Matrix for screening and monitoring the bank's customers. Responsibilities include bank wide compliance with laws, regulations and international standards and focusing on global risks associated with money laundering and terrorism financing. Bachir represents Compliance at various committees, identifies laws and regulations applicable to business lines and reviews compliance policies, procedures and monitoring systems.

Bachir is a Speaker and Freelance Trainer. CV also includes:-

1. Launched Group AML Professional – Discussion Forum on Nov 19, 2004
2. Launched from Beirut – Lebanon, the 1st Compliance Alert portal in the MENA region
3. Member of the Lebanon Bankers Association AML Committee and,
4. World  Union of Arab Banks – Group Certified Compliance Officers (Research and Best Practices Committee)

David Cafferty has over 20 years experience in the fields of accounting, corporate governance, financial crime, compliance, and anti-money laundering. A UK police-trained financial investigator and fraud examiner, he is also a Chartered Management Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner.
A Forensic Accountant by profession, David is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountant’s (CIMA), Technical Advisory Group (specialising in financial crime and money laundering); a member of the UK Consultative Committee of Accounting Bodies (CCAB) Money Laundering Working Group; a  member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, a member of the Institute of Money Laundering Prevention Officers; a Trustee of the World Association of Compliance; a member of the International Compliance Association; a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners; a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors; and a member of the UK Fraud Advisory Panel. He is also a member of the European Corporate Governance Institute and is registered as an “expert” with the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Gert Demmink is former Head of Department, Expert Centre for Integrity, in the Directorate of Supervision of the Netherlands Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank N.V.), responsible for the supervision of efforts to combat money laundering, financing of terrorism and (tax) fraud. Currently he is Managing Director, Eagle Compliance. He is also senior adviser to the Central Banks in the Netherlands IMF Constituency (mainly former Soviet Republics) with regard to AML/CFT/Corruption and (tax) fraud. He has also advised Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia & Bulgaria.

Other Skills:

• Deputy Judge in the Amsterdam Criminal Court (since November 2001)
• Freelance trainer with FMO (Institute for Financing of Developing Countries): presentations and in-house workshops in Islamic banks in Dhaka, Bangladesh (2003)
• Trainer with the Netherlands Compliance Institute.
• Chairman, Training & Education Committee of Netherlands Chapter ACFE.
• Lawyer & Forensic Auditor by profession

Professional Experience Record:

• 1991 – 1996: Ministry of Justice in the Netherlands. Senior policy officer in the field of international co-operation (police/prosecution)
• 1996 – 1997: Netherlands Antilles Government Project Manager for the FIU
• 1998 – 2007: De Nederlandsche Bank N.V.
• Current: Managing Director, Eagle Compliance

Nigel Morris-Cotterill trained as a solicitor (attorney) in London and practised in his own firm and others. He is a litigator and still holds a consultancy with Norman Saville & Co. in London. In 1994, Nigel launched Silkscreen Consulting to work with financial services businesses and government departments aiming at compliance with laws to combat money laundering and writing and delivering training and awareness programmes and the development of counter-money laundering strategies. Nigel is author of “How not to be a money launderer - the avoidance of fraud and money laundering in your organisation” (London, 2nd ed. 1999) and is a frequent contributor to television and radio programmes in the UK and internationally. He was for several years a contributor to Money Laundering Bulletin and in 1999 launched World Money Laundering Report which he still edits.

Nigel is author and presenter of “Morris-Cotterill on Money Laundering” published by CPD-Direct, a joint venture between Butterworths and SPR-Law. He is in advanced discussion with another major publisher to write a legal text on the counter-money laundering laws of South-East Asia. Silkscreen Consulting’s associated e-learning company, clicktolearnmore.com, produces content for e-learning providers in financial services. Nigel is CEO of Risk Values Limited, the producer of screening software to identify customers with the potential to abuse their relationship with financial services businesses for the purpose of financial crimes such as fraud and money laundering and - uniquely - the funding of terrorism. Nigel chairs and speaks at commercial and academic conferences all over the world - his treatment of money laundering related issues taking in not only those issues which specifically mention money laundering but also inter-governmental initiatives, compliance problems, organisational culture, international topics such as the use of counter-money laundering laws in tax investigations, client confidentiality, political objectives and more. An authoritative and informative speaker, Nigel is sometimes controversial, challenging established views and inviting delegates to think more deeply about the information they receive both during the training programmes he presents and from other sources.

Herman Annink is a former specialist of the Expert Centre for Integrity in the Directorate of Supervision in the Netherlands Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank NV), responsible for the supervision of efforts to combat money laundering, financing of terrorism and other financial crimes. He is currently a director of The Eagle Compliance Company. Herman has advised Central Banks, insurance supervisors and pension fund supervisors in the Eastern European and Asian Region on governance, integrity, and risk management.

In the Netherlands, he helped set up the legal framework, policy statements and the integrity supervision activities of the Dutch Central Bank with regard to combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and personal and organisational integrity risks.

Herman is an Economist and a certified public accountant.

Other skills:
- Freelance trainer for, a.o., the Netherlands Compliance Institute and the FIU-Netherlands
- Providing Technical Assistance for the members of the Dutch IMF Constituency
- Publishing articles on governance, integrity, and risk management

Herman’s professional experience:
- Current: Director Eagle Compliance
- 2003 - 2007: De Nederlandsche Bank N.V., sr. examiner and integrity specialist
- 1998 - 2003: Garanti Bank International N.V. head of compliance and audit department
- 1992 - 1998: Ernst & Young, audit manager

Richard Hoff, like Herman Annink, is a former specialist of the Expert Centre for Integrity in the Directorate of Supervision in the Netherlands Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank NV), responsible for the supervision of efforts tocombat money laundering, financing of terrorism and other financial crimes. Together with Herman, he is a director of The Eagle Compliance Company and has advised Central Banks, insurer supervisors and pension fund supervisors in the Eastern European and Asian Region on governance, integrity, and risk management.

Richard set up the legal framework, policy statements and the integrity supervision activities of the Dutch Central Bank with regard to combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and personal and organisational integrity risks.

Richard has a Phd-degree in Business Administration and a Masters degree in Law.

Other skills:
- Freelance trainers for, a.o., the Netherlands Compliance Institute and the FIU-Netherlands
- Providing Technical Assistance for the members of the Dutch IMF Constituency
- Publishing articles on governance, integrity, and risk management

Richard’s professional experience:
- Current: Director Eagle Compliance
- 2003 - 2007: De Nederlandsche Bank N.V., sr. examiner and integrity specialist
- 1998 - 2003: Rabobank Nederland, information manager and business architect
- 1994 - 1998: Cap Gemini, consultant

Steven Philippsohn is a leading authority on fraud. Over the last 20 years his firm has been retained by national and international organizations all of whom have been victims of fraud. This firm is a leading fraud litigation practice in the UK as identified in the 2001 edition of The Legal 500.

Steven has been invited to speak regularly to international corporations and institutions as well as to other lawyers. He has recently given papers at the International and American Bar Associations, the Global Forum for Law Enforcement and National Security and to a UK Government department.

He is asked for comment regularly by the media and has been interviewed on BBC, ITV, Sky Television and CNBC. He is regularly invited to write articles and is quoted in the mainstream media as well as specialist law publications. In addition, he is co-editor of the UK Manual of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and is an active member of the association. He is the co-author of the "Security and Assurance" chapter of the City & Financial publications of "e-Commerce From Cradle to Grave: A Practitioner’s Manual".

He is Chairman of the Cybercrime Working Party of the Fraud Advisory Panel, a member of the IAAC and on the Editorial Boards of e-Commerce Law & Policy and Inside Fraud Bulletin.

Steven obtained Honours in the Law Society qualifying examinations, prior to becoming a solicitor in 1972. He moved quickly to become the litigation partner of a substantial Central London practice prior to starting his own firm in 1979.

Over the last 15 years, Anthony has been instructed to act in numerous cases involving international commercial litigation as well as many high profile property disputes. He was involved in one of the first investigations brought by the FSA into market manipulation.

His cases have ranged from metal trading to breaches of trust, from regulatory matters to the value of property investments.

He has had a number of cases reported in the Times and other law reports and he has presented many papers on international litigation and related issues to organisations such as the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Maritime Bureau, the Institute of Public Finance and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy as well as companies and government institutions. He is regularly asked for comment by the media.

Anthony writes a monthly article for In-House Lawyer and is a regular contributor to other publications such as the E-Commerce Law Reports. He is the author of the chapter on civil fraud of the LexisNexis publication, Fraud: Law, Practice and Procedure and is one of the contributors to the UK Fraud Manual of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Anthony is a member of the Law Society Working Party on Civil Fraud and is recommended by the Legal 500, as one of the specialists in dealing with this area of the law.

Anthony graduated from Leicester University in 1985 before joining PCB in 1991 as a solicitor. He became a partner in 1996. He joined a nationwide practice in 2001 where he was described in the Legal 500 as one of its key partners before returning to PCB in 2005.

Edward Wilding, CTO, has successfully investigated several hundred cases of computer fraud and forgery, IP infringement, system sabotage and misuse in many jurisdictions. He has served as an expert witness for the prosecution and the defence in criminal cases, at employment tribunals, in civil litigation and at official hearings including the Hutton Inquiry into the death of weapons expert Dr. David Kelly CMG. He is the author of two acclaimed books, ‘Computer Evidence: A Forensic Investigations Handbook’ (1996) and ‘Information Risk and Security: Preventing and Investigating Workplace Computer Crime’ (2006). An accredited tutor on computer fraud and misuse at Royal Holloway, University of London, Ed has lectured worldwide on forensic methods and investigative techniques to law enforcement agencies, law firms, government bodies and IT security and audit professionals.

Andrew Frowen is CEO and Director of Forensics for IntaForensics, one of the UK’s leading providers of Digital Forensic Services. IntaForensics provides Expert Witness, Computer Forensics, Mobile Phone Forensics and Forensic Data Recovery to the Legal Sector, Police Forces, Local government and International Commercial organisations.

Following an Army career as a Royal Signals Telecommunications Technician, Andrew Frowen is a registered and vetted Computer Forensic Expert with over 10 years experience in providing IT consultancy and Expert Witness services to both the military and private sectors. Andrew is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, CompTIA A+ certified Technician and a professional member of the British Computer Society. He has had experience in acting as a Single Joint Expert, and has been instructed on many occasions, acting for both Prosecution and Defence. His investigations have covered fraud, theft, pornography (possession of indecent images), drugs importation, hacking and intellectual property theft. Andrew is also a military communication instructor and a visiting lecturer for Coventry University, providing real world experience to academic students. He has been a guest speaker at several business continuity seminars and has provided training on computer forensics to the Internal Auditors Association (IIA).