Alex Thursby has stepped down as group chief executive of National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) after three years in the role, the bank has confirmed.
Abhijit Choudhury, NBAD’s group chief risk officer, has been appointed as acting chief executive with immediate effect.
Khalifa Sultan Al Suwaidi, who is currently a member of NBAD’s board of directors, will take on the newly created position of managing director “to support the bank through the integration planning process” until its merger with FGB is complete.
The boards of the two Abu Dhabi banks last month unanimously voted to recommend to their shareholders the merger which will create a lender with $175 billion in assets, the largest in the Middle East.
Abdulhamid Saeed, currently board member and managing director of FGB, is to be the chief executive for the combined bank.
Mr Thursby said that he has left NBAD “in a very strong position to make a success of the merger and thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape”.
He added: “With the planning for NBAD’s integration with FGB now underway, I believe this is the right moment to hand over the reins to Abhijit Choudhury and a senior team that will plan for the merger.
“I feel strongly that it is important from now, that there is alignment between the decisions being taken during integration planning, and implementation of these decisions after the merger is legally completed.”
NBAD said in a statement that Mr Choudhury will work closely with deputy group chief executive Abdulla AbdulRaheem to lead the bank until the completion of the proposed merger, which is scheduled for the first quarter of 2017.
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The Outsider
Stephen King, Penguin
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
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Tips to avoid getting scammed
1) Beware of cheques presented late on Thursday
2) Visit an RTA centre to change registration only after receiving payment
3) Be aware of people asking to test drive the car alone
4) Try not to close the sale at night
5) Don't be rushed into a sale
6) Call 901 if you see any suspicious behaviour
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
SPECS
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
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Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
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4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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