Kuwait Leaders

Surour Al-Samerai: Biography
Surour Al-Samerai is General Manager – Human Resources at Gulf Bank. Surour has been with the Bank for over 10 years, and prior to joining Gulf Bank, he was head of the HR functions at M.H. Alshaya and Alghanim Industries.
He has many years of diversified HR experience and has been responsible for numerous developments within Human Resources at Gulf Bank.

Company Profile
Videos: Lending Opportunities for Kuwait’s Banking SectorKuwait: Banking Sector in 2012-2013Competition in Kuwait’s Banking Sector Corporate Banking in Kuwait Differentiation of Gulf Bank in Kuwait Gulf Bank’s GovernanceGulf Bank’s Performance in 2012Gulf Bank’s StrategyRetail Banking in KuwaitProject Finance and Kuwait’s Development Plan

A number of HR awards have been won by him and Gulf Bank including, an International Stevie Award for Best HR team in 2006, the Middle East Outstanding Contribution to HR award in 2007, the GCC Localization Award, which the Bank has claimed for 6 consecutive years from 2005 to 2010 and the prestigious GCC Employer of the Year in 2010 at the 2nd GCC HR Excellence Awards.
Surour studied at the University of Houston and later obtained his HR professional qualification at Thames Valley University in the UK.

Saleem Sheikh: Biography
Prior to joining Gulf Bank as Chief Risk Officer in 2009, Saleem was with Arab Bank, where he held the position of Group Chief Credit Officer from 2007 to 2009. He was responsible for the Bank’s credit risk portfolio, credit policy supervision, portfolio management and country risk. He also spent five years with Barclays Bank as Chief Operating Officer for Corporate & Merchant Banking for the Africa & Middle East Region and later on as the Regional Managing Director for Middle East & North Africa.
He began his banking career with Citibank in 1981, and went on to hold a variety of senior business and risk roles in Pakistan, UAE, Nigeria and South Africa, where his last role was Chief Risk Officer for Sub-Sahara Africa.

Company Profile
Videos: Lending Opportunities for Kuwait’s Banking SectorKuwait: Banking Sector in 2012-2013Competition in Kuwait’s Banking Sector Corporate Banking in Kuwait Differentiation of Gulf Bank in Kuwait Gulf Bank’s GovernanceGulf Bank’s Performance in 2012Gulf Bank’s StrategyRetail Banking in KuwaitProject Finance and Kuwait’s Development Plan

Saleem holds a MBA degree from Punjab University in Lahore.

Khaled Al-Mutawa: Biography
Khaled Al-Mutawa is General Manager – International Banking and Investments at Gulf Bank. Khaled joined Gulf Bank in 1989 as a management trainee and moved on to become the General Manager – International Banking in 2001. In 2006, he assumed responsibility for the Investments Division. Khaled is also the Chairman of the Bank’s Management Credit Committee.
He served on the Board of Directors of CINET (Credit Information Network) from 2001- 2008.

Company Profile
Videos: Lending Opportunities for Kuwait’s Banking SectorKuwait: Banking Sector in 2012-2013Competition in Kuwait’s Banking Sector Corporate Banking in Kuwait Differentiation of Gulf Bank in Kuwait Gulf Bank’s GovernanceGulf Bank’s Performance in 2012Gulf Bank’s StrategyRetail Banking in KuwaitProject Finance and Kuwait’s Development Plan

Khaled holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (1988) and General Certificate of Education “GCE O Levels” from the University of London (1983).