ADVISORY BOARD

Pinar brings extensive international leadership experience in fintech, payments, and product development.She leads Product & Marketing in Network. Previously, she held senior roles at Worldpay, Signicat, Barclays and was a senior manager Bain&Company.

Nadia Benaissa is a seasoned marketing expert with over 20 years of experience in payments, banking, and fintech. As the Global Head of Marketing at Paymentology, she leads the company's expansion across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. Throughout her career, Nadia has embraced the challenge of building and growing fintech brands from the ground up. Utilising agile and AI marketing practices and a business mindset, she applies tailored frameworks that drive growth and revenue. An active member of the fintech ecosystem, Nadia also serves as a board member of the MENA Fintech Association, where she helped grow the community and founded working groups with a focus on Sustainability, Fintech Marketing, Payments among others.

Finali Fernando is an HSBC Life banker and is in her 30th year with HSBC, with over 23 years of experience specialising in payments across the UAE and the MENA region. Having joined the bank straight after college, she began her career at HSBC Sri Lanka and moved to the UAE in 2002, where she has been based ever since. Finali’s Global Payments Solutions (GPS) experience spans several teams, including leading regional teams in Operations, Client Services, and Client Implementation. She currently manages multiple responsibilities, including Product, Risk, Business Management, and the MENAT GPS People agenda.

Looking after Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions for Corporates Inbound Sales in MEA, I joined Citi in 2018 in Transaction banking, and prior to that held positions in Equity and Commodity Derivatives, ALM, Trade and Supply Chain in Europe and GCC

Chitra plays a pivotal role in shaping the Bank’s Innovation agenda. She spearheads Fintech Engagements and drives Strategic Initiatives that embed Innovation into the core of both Client & Bank’s ecosystems.

Meabh Maguire brings over two decades of experience in the payments and digital banking sectors, spanning Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. As the Global Commercial Head of the CR2 and a key member of the CR2 Leadership team, Meabh is responsible for driving new customer acquisition and fostering strong customer relationships.

Gina Petersen is Country Manager for the UAE and Oman at Mastercard; reporting to the Division President of the East Arabia Division. She is responsible for driving the company's growth strategy in one of the fastest growing regions across the globe, diversifying revenue streams, building strategic and high- impact partnerships with leading public, regulatory and private sector stakeholders, and delivering innovative experiences across the payments ecosystem.

Rachel is an Executive Director, heading the Payments coverage for Non-Bank Financial Institutions across Middle East & Africa at J.P. Morgan. Her responsibility includes leading client engagement and driving strategy & growth across the different Non-Bank Financial Institutions sub-sectors across the region.

Heba Sherif most recently served as the Head of Compliance and MLRO at Adyen MEA, overseeing regulatory strategy, license execution, and a compliance framework. With 15 years of experience in the US & MEA, she has held senior roles in banking and fintech, including MLRO for SCB DIFC branch.