Standard Chartered appoints new Head of Corporate Finance for Africa

StanChart Bank has announced the appointment of Abbas Husain as the Regional Head of Corporate Finance, Africa and the Middle East. Prior to joining Standard Chartered, Abbas worked with Citibank, managing a portfolio of multinational corporates and local corporates and at Bank of America managing a diversified portfolio.

Bringing over nearly 24 years of banking experience, 17 years of which have been with Standard Chartered, Abbas has been leading one of the largest and most successful Project & Export Finance teams in the region, with a proven track record in structuring and executing project finance transactions in the power, water, oil and gas, metals and infrastructure sectors.

Along with his new responsibilities as Head of Corporate Finance, AME, Abbas’ will also expand his role as Head of Project & Export Finance for Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP) to cover Europe, Africa, Middle East and Pakistan. He will continue to be based in Dubai.

Speaking on Abbas Husain’s new role, Sunil Kaushal, Regional CEO, Africa and the Middle East, commented: “The appointment of Abbas demonstrates the commitment we have made in developing top leadership talent within the bank. We are focussed on the continued growth of our business, and he brings a valuable wealth of experience in successfully advising clients across a diverse range of sectors in our footprint. As we navigate the current COVID-19 crisis, Abbas will play a crucial role in supporting our clients across Africa and the Middle East during this challenging period.”

In his previous role Abbas advised, structured and executed over 50 deals in MENAP, raising more than US$ 100bn of debt, including advising/structuring more than 60 gigawatts of new power generation and water projects that produce over 1,700 million imperial gallons per day in the region across 11 countries. Abbas was awarded the Dealmaker of the Year by EMEA Finance for Europe, Middle East & Africa in 2017. Under his leadership, the MENAP Project Finance business has been recognized industry wide as the Best Project Finance House in the region over the last few years. He has also been a key contributor to driving the bank’s Sustainable Finance commitment through leadership in the renewables sector