The Global Banking & Finance Review has announced ITFC (https://ITFC-idb.org)’s CEO, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol as the winner of the Islamic Trade Finance CEO of the Year Saudi Arabia and Islamic Trade Finance CEO of the Year Middle East categories at the 2021 edition of the Global Banking & Finance Awards. The awards program recognizes the works and achievements of players in the global banking and finance industry and celebrates their noteworthy milestones.

Since its inception in 2011, the Global Banking & Finance Awards® reflect the innovation, achievement, strategy, progressive and inspirational changes taking place within the Global Financial community. The well-known awards were created to recognize companies of all sizes which are prominent areas of expertise and excellence within the financial world.

Commenting on the achievement, Eng. Sonbol said: “I am honored to have won such prestigious awards among our peers in the industry. I dedicate this award to my team at ITFC who played a big role in this achievement and our partners and who have displayed strong resilience and trust in our capability to deliver more this year even amid a global pandemic.”

Since his appointment in 2016, Eng. Sonbol has overseen the strategic positioning of ITFC on global trade financing across the African, Asia and Arab regions and the strengthening of the role of the institution on flagship programs such as the Arab Africa Trade Bridges Program (AATB) and the Aid for Trade Initiative for Arab States (AfTIAS).

ITFC, a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB), has since its inception in 2008, risen to become one of the world’s most important facilitators of trade and financing in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member-States and has been at the forefront of trade financing and economic recovery support during the pandemic. Eng. Sonbol’s leadership before and during the crisis that came with the Covid-19 pandemic has been a catalyzing force for the organization and its partners across the many regions it serves.