10th June 2022 – British Arab Commercial Bank (BACB) has announced the appointment of Richard Snookes as the Bank’s Interim Head of Financial Crime Risk and Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO), with immediate effect. Richard, a regulatory risk expert with 25 years of experience in the field, brings a track record of effective financial crime risk management and executive leadership to the role.

Having worked at financial institutions such as Barclays Capital, Santander UK and RBS, Richard has experience in leading teams responsible for risk monitoring at an international level. Richard is also highly competent in managing complex, specialist risk environments, having served as Chief Compliance Officer at Sberbank CIB in London, where he led a control enhancement programme and restructured the UK office’s compliance processes. This comes on top of extensive experience in financial crime prevention and regulator engagement, which has seen him supervise the deployment of robust controls in trade finance and correspondent banking contexts.

Reporting to BACB’s Chief Compliance Officer, Bhavesh Dattani, Richard will play a central role in helping the bank fulfil its strategy of pursuing safe, sustainable growth. As a UK-regulated bank dedicated to specialist markets, BACB views its compliance capabilities as the cornerstone of the bank’s operations and ability to serve its clients, and Richard’s expertise will enhance its already robust compliance function.

Commenting on his appointment, Richard says, “BACB is a bank that places regulatory compliance at the heart of its operations – and staying ahead of the curve on financial crime prevention is a crucial part of supporting international trade flows. I very much look forward to adding my experience to what is already a strong team at BACB.”

Bhavesh Dattani, Chief Compliance Officer, adds: “Richard’s extensive experience in anti-financial crime makes him the ideal choice for BACB’s Interim Head of Financial Crime Risk and MLRO. An effective, robust risk management approach is central to operating in our core markets, and this will continue to be an utmost priority for the Bank as we move forward in our next stage of growth.”

Based in London, BACB is an international specialist bank that finances trade flows to, and from, Africa and the Middle East.