Management 

Murat Ulus took office as the first and founding President of the Bank upon the approval of the Board of Governors on October 6, 2006. Mr. Ulus has a twenty years of experience and a distinguished career in the banking sector. He started his professional career as a Sworn-in Bank Auditor under the Undersecreteriat of Treasury of Turkey between the years 1987 – 1995. While being Sworn-in Bank Auditor he conducted various studies including consolidated Turkish Banking System and its performance evaluation, lectured classes for newly-recruited auditor trainees during these years in the Undersecreteriat of Treasury. He continued his career as a Deputy CEO in Egebank between the years 1995 – 1996. He was in charge of Financial Control & Planning, Public Relations & Advertisement, Construction & Real Estate and Administrative Services. Later Mr. Ulus became the first & founding CEO of Asya Participation Bank A.S. (Bank Asya). He contributed to the establishment of Bank Asya to be one of the leading participation banks of Turkey with a rapid but sustainable & healthy growth from 1996 to 2000. During his service years with Bank Asya, he established a very successful CRM system, carried out intensive training programmes for the staff’s enhancement of academic & business skills and for the improvement of the quality of the services. Mr. Ulus established his own company, Ulusal Marketing, Sales Inc. and acted as the Vice Chairman of this company from 2001 to 2003. In 2003 he assumed Managing Director position responsible from credits at the Board of Directors of T.C. Ziraat Bankasi (the largest bank in Turkey). In addition to this he was also appointed to be the Board Member of Turkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankası (the largest private development bank in Turkey) as well as similar positions in several subsidiaries of T.C. Ziraat Bankasi, such as Chairman of Ziraat Leasing Company, Vice Chairman of Ziraat Bosnia Bank and Board Member of international subsidiary banks such as in Germany, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan. Mr. Ulus earned his BS degree in economics in the Faculty of Political Science of Ankara University, Turkey in 1987 and holds MS degree in Financial Economics from Boston University, USA.

The Board of Directors of the Bank appointed Mr. Abolghassem Erfan as VP for a five-year term and he took the office on March 1, 2007. Mr. Erfan has a professional career of 29 years starting from 1978. Before joining the Central Bank of Iran he had worked for the private sector companies 1978 to 1983. His career for the Central Bank of Iran took 23 years from 1983 to 2006. During his period with the Central Bank of Iran he served at different positions while his last position was being the Director of International Finance Department and being a regular member at each of Reserve Management Committee, Exchange Rate Management Committee, International Finance Committee and Free Zone Banking Committee. He continued his professional career as a financial consultant after 2006 until his appointment to the Bank. Mr. Erfan earned his BA degree in Business Management of Allameh University, Tehran in 1974.

The Board of Directors of the Bank appointed Nadeem Karamat as VP for a five-year term and he took the office on February 1, 2007. Mr. Nadeem draws over 23 years of experience with the Bank of America & American Express Bank Ltd. Before joining the Bank he was the Country Manager of American Express Bank Ltd. in Pakistan and prior to this he has served as the Country Manager of the same bank from 1997 to 2000 in Lebanon. As a senior banking professional in the financial sector environment he took honorary positions such as the President of American Business Council in Pakistan ( majority of member companies are fortune 500 companies ), as an Executive Committee member of the Pakistan Banks’ Association and Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He has immensely contributed towards reformatory procedures, good corporate governance and fostering public/private sector partnerships for development of sound business practices. He has also served: on the Board of Directors of IGI Investment Bank (formerly First Inter Investment Bank and formerly joint venture between American Express Bank Ltd. Packages Group and IFC), on the Board of Intellectual Property Rights (appointed by the Government of Pakistan). He is a member of the Board of Governors of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS, ranked as one of the top Pakistani Universities offering degrees in Business Management and Information Technology). Nadeem holds Bachelors of Commerce degree from Hailey College of Commerce, University of Punjab, Pakistan and BS in Management and MBA degree in Finance from Golden Gate University, San Franscisco, CA, USA.