Al Rayan Bank has announced the appointment of Wahid Ali as chief risk officer (CRO).

Ali (pictured) will report directly to the Bank’s CEO, Sultan Choudhury, and will be based at Al Rayan Bank’s operational headquarters in Birmingham.

He will lead the expansion of Al Rayan Bank’s risk function to ensure an appropriate risk environment for the bank’s planned future growth. This growth is part of the Bank’s transformational business strategy, put in place following its acquisition by Masraf Al Rayan in 2014.

Ali joins Al Rayan Bank from Future Williams and Glyn, RBS, where he was deputy CRO and director of enterprise wide risk management, risk strategy, conduct and regulatory risk. Previously, he was a senior manager at the Bank of England for the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) supervision division, and prior to that, senior manager at Deloitte UK.

Ali said: “I am delighted to be joining the team at Al Rayan Bank, which I believe is the leading bank in the UK for ethical finance. This chimes with my personal ethics, as does their approach of putting the customer at the centre of everything it does.

“I first became familiar with the Al Rayan Bank when working for the PRA, and my assessment was then, as it is now, that it has a bright future. There is a dynamic leadership team driving the Bank forward; it has a sound strategy and is starting to make its mark on the global map as a notable bank pioneering Islamic finance in the UK.”

Choudhury added: “I welcome the addition of Wahid to the executive team, as he brings an impressive range of experience and deep understanding to the bank, together with a proven track record of business results. With his strong understanding of governance and risk he is the right person to join our team at this exciting time in the bank’s development.”