Speakers

As Head of Client Solutions in the Middle East, Matthew is principally responsible for establishing and maintain client relationships with counterparties to provide service solutions across the range of the firm’s products and services.

Matthew has led markets for Waystone in Europe and North America for ahead of relocating to the Middle East to continue to develop Waystone’s service offering in the GCC.

Prior to joining Waystone, Matthew served in market facing roles within the securities and derivative markets in Europe.

Christiane El Habre, Regional Managing Director – Middle East - Apex Group brings over two decades of experience in the UAE financial services industry, managing high level of local and international business, banking relations and negotiating complex deals and contracts establishing corporate vision, strategic operational planning, re-engineering operations & process improvement.

Christiane Joined Apex Group from international management consultancy Elkho Group where she was Partner, Chair of the Board and CEO of Middle East. Previously she served as Managing Director at EFG Bank Monaco, and founder of FFA Private Bank (Dubai) in 2006 in DIFC, the first Lebanese specialized investment bank to have a subsidiary in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), where she was CEO and executive board member in 2011. During her tenure Christiane served as a Board member of all the funds established by the Bank. Prior to joining FFA Private Bank Dubai, Christiane held senior positions in Gap Corp in Dubai, and she spent 5 years in FFA Private Bank in Lebanon, as the Head of Treasury and Operations. Christiane is a highly recognized member in the Finance /Wealth Management Business and also serves on boards of several non profits, where she is committed to mentoring and coaching young professionals in the finance industry, as well as providing scholarships for students to pursue a career in Finance. She is also an ambassador for Jobs For Lebanon since 2020 She is a regular speaker at International financial forums, addressing current practical banking practices and is a known figure for addressing women empowerment matters in the region.

Christiane graduated from St Joseph University (USJ) in Beirut with a degree in Finance, she completed further education from IE business school in High Impact Leadership, and from the Oxford University in advanced FinTech.

Michael Grifferty founded and leads The Gulf Capital Market Association, the industry body representing the Arabian Gulf debt and equity markets and the asset management industry. The GCMA is composed of the region’s leading banks, asset managers, law firms, issuers, ratings agencies and service providers and plays a leading role on all major matters concerning development of capital markets in the region.

Previously, Michael served as advisor for the US Treasury on sovereign debt and bond markets, advising over forty countries and regional organizations. He has also consulted extensively for the International Monetary Fund and Arab Monetary Fund.

Prior to his international career, Mr. Grifferty was a senior vice president at Government Finance Associates, providing problem-solving financial advisory services to US state and local governments. He has degrees from New York University and Georgetown University in Public Finance and International Relations, respectively.  A native English speaker, Michael speaks French and Russian.

Toby Harris is a member of the ME Wealth team, responsible for the growth and coverage of ME Wealth clients Prior to this he led EMEA Client Strategy and partnerships. 

In this role he was responsible for leading a team that drives and executes on key strategic distribution initiatives across the region in partnership with regional leadership, and identifying and executing on commercial partnerships. Before this he was Chief of Staff to the Head of EMEA EII sales. He began his career at BLK as part of the iShares Business Strategy team.

From 2011 to 2014, Mr Harris worked at UBS, where he was responsible for managing and developing a book of client portfolios, advising on portfolio construction and asset allocation across all asset classes. He was an officer in the British Army, where he commanded teams of up to 50 people both on operations and in the UK.

Mr Harris has a BA in Business Finance from the University of Wales, and has passed the IMC and CFA Level 1.

Afif Heloui is a Principal in Blackstone’s Private Wealth Solutions Group covering the Middle East region based in the UAE. Mr. Heloui is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships with wealth managers, private banks, and local asset managers in the Middle East. The Private Wealth Solutions Group’s mission is to bring institutional-quality products across a broad spectrum of alternative asset classes to individual investors and their advisors.

Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Heloui worked for more than 7 years at BlackRock in the UAE as a Director within their Middle East iShares & Wealth coverage team. Mr. Heloui started his career at Standard Chartered Bank in the UAE as a Credit Analyst specializing in corporate lending having joined their 2-year International Graduate Program.

Mr. Heloui is a CAIA Charter holder, earned an MSc degree in Finance and Economics from Durham University and a BA in Economics from the American University of Beirut. 

Mohieddine (Dino) Kronfol is the chief investment officer for Global Sukuk and Head of MENA Fixed Income for Franklin Templeton based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dino is responsible for managing the investment process, research, and performance of the Global Sukuk and MENA Fixed Income teams, and leads portfolio management for FTSF Global Sukuk, FTIF Gulf Wealth Bond, and FT-BSP Private Financing strategies.

Dino is a pioneer in Arab capital markets where he has committed the past 25 years to the development of MENA debt markets and Shariah compliant finance across the globe. He has one of the longest track records managing global Sukuk assets, since 2008, and under his leadership, Franklin Templeton has established itself as a leader in global Sukuk investing. Dino frequently shares his views as a commentator on regional and international media and is a regular speaker at industry events.

Preceding his tenure at Franklin Templeton, Dino was part of a small team that, in 2000, helped build from scratch and run what became SHUAA Capital's financial services business. He was initially head of Capital Markets and later became head of Debt Asset Management and, in 2002, fund manager of the first fund to focus exclusively on MENA debt. Prior to that, he was an early employee at one of the first pan-Arab investment banks, Middle East Capital Group (MECG).

Dino holds a bachelor of arts in business administration and an MBA from the American University of Beirut. He won the first Failaka Islamic Award for "The Best Sukuk Fund" in 2010, the first Employee Provident Fund of Malaysia (EPF) Award for "Best Global Sukuk Portfolio Manager" in 2014 and 2019, and the MENA Fund Manager Award for "Outstanding Achievement by an Individual" in 2016. Franklin GCC Bond fund won the Mountain View Fund Award 2019 in the Bond Funds Global category. His team was awarded the Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Middle East Awards for MENA Fixed Income Strategy, 1 Year (2022) and 3 Years (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025) and Global Sukuk Strategy, 1 Year (2021) and 3 Years (2022, 2023). In private markets, 3 transactions won the Bonds Loans & Sukuk Private Credit Deal of the Year in 2022 (Pure Harvest), 2023 (Moove), and 2025 (Keyper).

Antoine is a Managing Director of State Street Global Advisors and Head of ETF Strategy & Research for EMEA. Antoine's responsibilities include developing a strategy framework for the existing SPDR ETF range to align it with financial market developments and long-term economic outlooks. This is delivered through research on ETFs as well as market analysis that support the distribution of ETFs across EMEA. Antoine is a regular commentator on markets via press and TV programs such as CNBC Squawk Box.

Prior to this role Antoine was a senior Fixed Income Portfolio Strategist in EMEA covering Europe and Global Fixed Income beta strategies as well as smart beta.

Antoine joined SSGA in 2006 from Sungard Reech where he was responsible for selling advanced pricing and risk analytics to banks and asset managers in France and the Netherlands, with a focus on structured fixed income derivatives. Prior to that he took part in a start-up which managed an internet based Interest Rate Swaps interdealer trading platform. He started his career at Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking on the Fixed Income & FX structured products sales desk.

Antoine has earned a Master's degree from the French Business School, ESCEM, with a major in Finance in 1998.

Ted Logan joined HarbourVest in 2021 and focuses on business development and strategy with key intermediary relationships in EMEA and Asia. Ted brings 20 years of experience to HarbourVest in private equity and alternatives distribution in both the wealth and institutional channels.

Ted joined the Firm from BlackRock and was part of the BlackRock Alternatives Specialists team focused on fundraising across private equity, private debt, real assets and liquid alternative strategies. Prior to that, he held positions as marketing director for GLC Ltd. and Aspect Capital, Inc. and started his finance career with Goldman Sachs.

Ted received a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona and holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation.

Vai Rajan joined EQT Partners in August 2021 and is a Managing Director in the Client Relations & Capital Raising Team, responsible for EMEA Private Wealth.

Previously, Vai was a Principal at HarbourVest Partners in London, and a Product Specialist at HSBC Alternative Investments Ltd. prior to that. Vai worked in Geneva, New York, and Singapore before moving to London, and has focused on the research, selection, structuring, and distribution of private market investment opportunities to Family Offices and Private Banks since 2007.

Vai holds a Master of Science degree from Imperial College London (UK), a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College (NH, USA), and is a CFA Charterholder.

Ed Robbs is a member of Jane Street's Institutional Sales & Trading team. In this role, Ed is responsible for UK and MENA clients on the European sales trading desk, helping to provide trading solutions and access to Jane Street's differentiated liquidity. Previously, Ed was responsible for managing sales and business development for JX-EU, Jane Street's European systematic internaliser platform.

Prior to Jane Street, he spent five years as an electronic equity sales trader at Bloomberg Tradebook where he managed high- and low-touch UK and MENA Accounts.

Edward holds a Bachelor's degree in International Finance from Oxford Brookes University.

Sherif is a Partner and Head of Public Markets at Lunate, overseeing the firm’s ETF business.

Prior to Lunate, Sherif acquired more than 20 years of investment experience at EFG-Hermes, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Invest AD.

Sherif holds a Master’s degree from Henley Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the American University in Cairo.

Joe was appointed SEO of Schroders Middle East in April 2025, after moving to Dubai to head the Wealth business in June 2022.

Prior to this he was the Investment Director for the Multi-Manager team, based in London, a role he took in March 2014 following the acquisition of Cazenove Capital. Previous to the acquisition he was part of the Schroders UK Distribution team, joining in June 2010.

Joe began his career in January 2006, working in Business Development within the Wealth Management industry. IMC in Investment Management, from CFA Society of the UK

Joe graduated from the University of Leeds with a Joint Honours degree in Spanish & Business Management.