Join ABANA at the Metropolitan Club on December 12th for our end-of year networking event that will mark the end of our 40th anniversary celebration.

Register on our events page.

Mark your calendars for ABANA’s 2023 Achievement Award Dinner honoring Chuck Davis!

ABANA is delighted to announce this year’s Achievement Award Recipient, Chuck Davis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Stone Point Capital. The event will take place on November 8th at the Plaza Hotel, New York City.

Chuck Davis is the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of Stone Point Capital, an investment firm based in Greenwich, CT, with over $45 billion of assets under management. Stone Point targets investments in companies in the global financial services industry and related sectors. The firm invests in a number of alternative asset classes, including private equity through its flagship Trident Funds. Stone Point also manages both liquid and private credit funds and managed accounts. In addition, Stone Point Capital Markets supports the firm, portfolio companies and other clients by providing dedicated financing solutions.

Before joining Stone Point in 1998, Mr. Davis was with Goldman Sachs for 23 years where he served as Head of Investment Banking Services worldwide, Co‐Head of the Americas Group, Head of the Financial Services Industry Group, a member of the International Executive Committee and a General Partner. 

Mr. Davis is a member of the Board of Directors of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited and The Progressive Corporation. He is a former Chairman and former lead Director of the Hershey Company Board of Directors. Mr. Davis is also a current or former director of several portfolio companies of the Trident Funds, as well as several other publicly traded companies, including Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., Merchants Bancshares, Inc. and USLIFE Corporation. He is also a Founder and Co‐Chairman of the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation. Mr. Davis is a former member of the Advisory Board of Deutsche Bank, the Board of Overseers for the St. John’s University School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science, the Board of Trustees of the University of Vermont, St. Michael’s College and The Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich, CT. In 2018, Mr. Davis was selected as one of the Financial Times “2018 Outstanding Directors.”

Mr. Davis grew up in Burlington, VT and is a graduate of the University of Vermont. He also holds an MBA from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. At the University of Vermont, he was a two‐sport, all‐conference athlete and is an inductee in the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame. At Columbia University, he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma, the academic honor society.

June 20, 2023

Message from ABANA President, Khalid Azim on ABANA’s 40th Anniversary:

Over four decades, ABANA has harnessed the MENA’s crosscurrents of people, capital, and ideas to facilitate discourse, build bridges, foster innovation, and make a positive impact.

ABANA was founded forty years ago as the “Arab Bankers Association of North America” with a core mission of fostering professional exchange and promoting the business interests of the Arab and Arab-American financial community in the United States. In 1983, fourteen financial institutions and forty banking professionals became the organization’s inaugural members. Four decades later, ABANA has established itself as a unique forum for policy discussions, with a strong focus on connecting, inspiring, engaging, and informing Arabs, Arab-Americans and others who have an interest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The MENA region has a rich history with import and significance. In early human civilization, the fertile soil of the MENA region was the center point of human existence. Later, the peoples of this land fostered giant intellectual leaps in radical innovative thought and ideas in math, science, medicine, philosophy, art, architecture, poetry, and the very idea of time itself. Although, MENA is no longer the center point of the world’s economy, it still produces 3.8% of global GDP, and accounts for 5.6% of the total world population, and 5.2% of global trade. On a grander scale, the MENA region has a combined $1.1 trillion worth of FX reserves and produces over 35% of the world oil production and 22% of the world gas production¹.

Today, significant investment capital is being managed within the MENA region and put to work in some of the most transformational industries on the planet. Not only are MENA Sovereign Wealth Funds being managed by savvy investors and industry practitioners, but they are also putting risk capital into tomorrow’s industries such as Sustainable Energy, Bio-Tech, Artificial Intelligence, Fin-Tech, Pharmaceuticals, Blockchain, Payments and e-commerce to name just a few. As MENA nation states accelerate economic and trade liberalization, along with incremental cultural and social reforms, a fast-growing young population see the world as a place to compete in racing to Mars, disrupting markets, or winning matches at the World Cup. For the financial services industry, this sets the stage for robust growth of advisory and capital raising fees in upcoming years. Saudi Arabia alone has launched $51.2 billion of investments led by local companies and its Vision 2030 plans are breathtaking in terms of ambition.²

There is also an unheralded resource in the MENA region, that is creating opportunity and driving change, the demographic dividend. This is a concept, as defined by the International Monetary Fund, in which a high fertility rate nation has a labor force growing more rapidly than the population dependent on it.  It creates the scope for per capita income to grow and can lead to a more urban, modern, and industrial society, ceteris paribus. The experience of fast-growing Asian nation states (once referred to as “Asian Tigers”) over the last few decades demonstrated that this dividend period is quite long, decades in fact.  Moreover, this phenomenon can be followed by a second dividend through capital and asset accumulation, which also fosters higher domestic savings rates. “In short, the first dividend yields a transitory bonus, and the second transforms the bonus into greater assets and sustainable development.”³ The implications in the MENA region are profound, because unlike the Asian Tigers whose economies were led by external investments, certain MENA nations have an abundance of hydrocarbon resources with large current account surpluses providing the resources to invest in the knowledge based sectors and skills necessary for the success of a modern economy.

These MENA cross currents are creating a vibrancy and energy in the region. This is fertile ground for an organization like ABANA, which centers itself on the very idea of connectivity and professional networks.  In these past twelve months alone, ABANA has hosted program events on Fintech in the UAE, Revolutions in the MENA food chain, Saudi Women entrepreneurs, Hydrogen Energy, and a look at the Turkish economy in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. Moreover, ABANA honored, His Excellency Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund and Chairman of Saudi Aramco, hosted Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi at a private showcase for ABANA members; and more recently honored John J. Mack, the former Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley, in conjunction with the launch of The ABANA Foundation, which will provide scholarships and fellowships.

ABANA has made a difference. The difference is measured not only in years, policy forums, events, gala dinners, honorees, and financial resources, but through its human-to-human intersection and impact.  ABANA has been able to demystify the MENA region, exploring it as a vibrant place for business and financial opportunity.  It has also created a pathway for generations of Arab and Arab-American business professionals to enter the marketplace, to represent the communities they come from, to live up to the best version of themselves. When H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan spoke at an ABANA event, his remarks focused on a dynamic future and the importance of intellect as fostered through human capital to solve the toughest business challenges faced in the world today. When Dara Khosrowshahi spoke at an ABANA event, he spoke about humility and kindness in our interactions with colleagues and our community. When John Mack spoke at a recent ABANA Foundation event, he spoke about the importance of doing the right thing, even when doing so comes at a personal cost. Each of these speakers and the countless other ABANA speakers, board members, and other constituents showcase how ABANA makes a difference. It does so by building bridges, facilitating dialogue, and embracing excellence. Renowned Andalusian Philosopher and champion of reason from the 12^th century Ibn Rushd once said, “Knowledge is a light that illuminates our darkness.” Ultimately, ABANA’s mission and purpose is to find, share, distill and warehouse knowledge and by doing so illuminate a region, and the humans inspired by that region, for the entire world to see.

¹ Source: IMF and BP.
² Bloomberg :  “Saudi Firms Outline $51 Billion of Projects” March 2, 2023
³ Finance & Development, IMF, “What is the Demographic Dividend?” By Ronald Lee and Andrew Mason, September 2006

February 23, 2023

On May 8, 2023, the ABANA Foundation will honor John Mack, former Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley, with the first-ever Legacy Award, at the Mandarin Oriental in New York City. This award intends to recognize leaders who – over the course of their career – have made an extraordinary impact on the finance and investment industry and positively influenced the US Arab and Middle Eastern community. In accepting the award, John Mack will join a fireside chat with David Rubenstein, Co-Founder & Co-Chairman, Carlyle, to reflect on his own life and legacy. He will be introduced by James Gorman, Chairman & CEO, Morgan Stanley (via video), and Mayree Clark, Independent Director and former Morgan Stanley Executive.

Proceeds from the event will raise money for the ABANA Fellowship, through the ABANA Foundation, ABANA’s 501(c)(3) charitable arm. The Fellowship will sponsor rising young talent with a stipend for graduate studies along with access to all ABANA events and a summit designed to inform and connect these fellows to senior professionals in emerging industries.

For more details on the agenda, tickets, and sponsorship, please visit our event page.  You can also make a direct donation here.

The ABANA Foundation

The ABANA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable subsidiary of ABANA and was established to provide relief to the underprivileged, promote the social welfare and the advancement of education, and eliminate prejudice and discrimination, through scholarships and educational support, educational events, educational literature, and pursuing other charitable causes.

Seed-funding for the ABANA Foundation will be provided by proceeds from the 2023 ABANA Legacy Award Dinner honoring John Mack, former Chairman & CEO, Morgan Stanley. These funds will be used to institutionalize and expand the ABANA Fellowship Program as the newly christened John Mack ABANA Fellowship Program.

The ABANA Fellowship Program

The ABANA Fellowship was established nearly 10 years ago to support Arab and Arab-American MBA students in the US. Every year, ABANA selects a cohort of students who participate in a two-day program. The program includes meetings with leading financial institutions and ABANA Board Members, introductions to mentors, and opportunities to network with key players in the financial services and investment management industries. The fellows also participate in the annual ABANA Achievement Award Dinner and receive a one-year complimentary student membership and access to all ABANA membership benefits. Many fellows have gone on to find full-time careers through connections they have made through the program. Many also return as ABANA members on their own once their one-year membership expires.

Thanks to support from John Mack and proceeds from the Legacy Award Dinner in his honor, the ABANA Fellowship Program will expand on these roots.

Run under the auspices of the ABANA Foundation, the fellowship will target graduate students in their second year. It will have a competitive application process inviting students with a demonstrated interest in the Middle East and North Africa who intend to pursue a business or financial career to participate. The students selected will each receive a stipend to support their graduate studies. They will also be given ABANA memberships and granted access to ABANA’s network and all ABANA events. Most importantly, all fellows will participate in an annual summit designed to connect the fellows to senior professionals in ABANA’s network in finance and investing, private equity and venture capital, real estate, law and consulting, entrepreneurship, technology, and more. This summit will be hosted in New York City and the ABANA Foundation will cover all lodging, and food costs.

The fellowship is an opportunity for ABANA to give back to its community while maintaining links to its core mission and vision: bridging and empowering the finance community active between North America and the Middle East.