Career · 2009 to now
Four chapters, one thread.
Every role I have held has been about the same thing: understanding what a client expects, and delivering it with care. What changed from chapter to chapter was the side of the table I sat on — and each one prepared me for the next.
2009 – 2013
Chapter I: Hospitality
Understanding what guests expect — often before they say it.
My career began behind the concierge desk of international hotels in Doha and Kuwait. It is where I learned the fundamentals everything else is built on: attention, discretion, and the ability to read what a guest needs from very little.
- Chief Concierge · Hilton Doha & Hilton Kuwait Resort
- 2009 – 2013 · Doha · Kuwait
- Part of the pre-opening team that launched Hilton Doha.
- Ran concierge operations for an international guest base at Hilton Kuwait Resort.
- Shortlisted in the top three for Best Concierge of the Year in the Middle East — Hotelier Middle East, 2009.
“Service is anticipation. The best experiences are the ones a client never has to ask for.”
2013 – 2018
Chapter II: Lifestyle management
Delivering complex, high-expectation service for premium and UHNW clients — reliably.
In Dubai I moved from a single hotel to serving affluent members across the world. Lifestyle management raised the stakes: more demanding clients, more complex requests, and the need to build systems that deliver white-glove service consistently rather than occasionally.
- Lifestyle Operations Manager · Aspire Lifestyles, International SOS
- 2013 – 2016 · Dubai
- Lifestyle Manager · Quintessentially
- 2016 – 2018 · Dubai
- Set up Aspire Lifestyles’ Dubai branch in DAFZA from the ground up — regulatory setup, office, hiring, training and launch.
- Built a GCC network of 370+ luxury and lifestyle providers, and the operating procedures for concierge, guest relations, valet and airport services.
- Led SLA compliance and quality assurance for clients’ white-glove service; certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt in 2015.
- At Quintessentially, managed a portfolio of ultra-high-net-worth members — travel, events and complex requests, typically answered within two hours.
“Premium service at scale is a matter of process as much as personality.”
2018 – 2022
Chapter III: Banking & relationships
Turning trust into lasting financial relationships — within the discipline of regulation.
Banking brought a different conversation with a familiar kind of client. At American Express and then First Abu Dhabi Bank I managed relationships where service had to sit alongside credit, compliance and financial judgement.
- Platinum Relationship Manager · American Express (KSA portfolio)
- 2018 – 2019 · Dubai
- Relationship Manager · First Abu Dhabi Bank
- 2021 – 2022 · Dubai & Northern Emirates
- Managed a high-value Platinum cardmember portfolio at American Express, covering card, travel and lifestyle needs, and reviewed credit proposals.
- At FAB, managed HNWI and corporate relationships across Dubai and the Northern Emirates, across conventional and Islamic banking.
- Led acquisition of government and corporate accounts in the Northern Emirates, with propositions for salary transfer, working capital and investment.
- Ran financial-literacy sessions for corporate clients and kept a zero-error record on KYC/AML reviews.
- Won the FAB Fintech Mission Megathon, 2022.
“Relationships are built on the same trust in every industry. In finance, you also have to earn it on paper.”
A reflection on the role · 2026
Relationship Manager
The Practical Guide to Winning Clients, Avoiding Costly Mistakes, and Growing a Career in Banking
A practical guide to one of banking’s most important and least-taught roles: what a relationship manager actually does, how the best ones earn and keep a client’s trust, and how the role is changing as AI and data reshape banking.
Why I wrote it
I worked as a relationship manager at American Express and First Abu Dhabi Bank, in a role most people learn by trial and error. New RMs are handed a portfolio, a product list and a target, and left to work out what actually earns a client’s trust. This book is my attempt to write that down properly — grounded in industry research and real regulatory case studies rather than anecdote, and meant to be used before the next client meeting.
Inside
- 01Needs discoverySurfacing what a client actually needs, not just what they mention first.
- 02Call planningTurning every meeting into forward progress rather than a status update.
- 03Portfolio prioritisationHow to divide a finite week across dozens or hundreds of clients.
- 04Concentration riskSilicon Valley Bank and First Republic as case studies.
- 05Compliance & ethicsThe KYC/AML judgement every RM has to internalise.
- 06The augmented RMWhat AI and data change in the role — and what they can’t replace.
24 chapters · 195 pages · Paperback, hardcover & Kindle
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2022 – now
Chapter IV: Independent work
Writing on regional markets, and exploring where technology can improve client-facing work.
Since 2022 I have worked independently — writing about regional markets, building digital prototypes and continuing my professional development. The thread running through it is a practical question: which parts of relationship work can technology genuinely improve, and which should stay human?
- Author · MENA Financial Pulse newsletter
- 2024 – now · LinkedIn
- Independent projects · AI-assisted digital prototypes
- 2025 – now · Dubai
- Write MENA Financial Pulse, a newsletter on GCC and North African markets, banking and AI — now read by 900+ subscribers.
- Built working prototypes around relationship management, client workflows and personal finance using AI-assisted tools.
- Earned the CISI International Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management (Level 3) in 2025.
- Wrote Relationship Manager (2026), a practical guide to the role I had worked in, and Money, Explained From the Inside (2026), which explains financial products from the bank’s side of the desk.
“Technology is most useful when it gives professionals more time and better context for the client in front of them.”
The bank’s side, for everyone else · 2026
Money, Explained From the Inside
An Insider’s Guide to Borrowing, Protecting, Investing and Building Wealth
Loans, credit cards, mortgages, insurance, pensions, investments: most adults sign for all of them without ever being shown how they work. This book explains how financial products are priced, sold and measured — so readers can see them the way the bank does.
Why I wrote it
Having sat on the institution’s side of the desk, I saw how much the people selling financial products are taught — and how little the people buying them are. This book is that knowledge, turned around: evidence-based, every statistic sourced, and written for readers anywhere, with the rules compared across the US, UK, EU, the Gulf, India, Singapore and Australia.
Five questions to ask before any money decision — and a sixth
- 01What will time do to this?
- 02What does it really cost?
- 03What could go wrong?
- 04Who benefits?
- 05What else could this money do?
- +Why do I want this, and why now?
306 pages · 25 worksheets · Paperback, hardcover & Kindle
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Across the chapters
Doha, Kuwait and Dubai. Clients from across the Gulf and beyond.
Languages
- Arabic · Native
- English · Full professional
- French · Advanced (C1)
Professional development
- International Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management, Level 3CISI · 2025
- CPD AchievementCISI · 2024
- KYC / AML CertificationFirst Abu Dhabi Bank · 2021
- SPIN SellingHuthwaite · 2019