About

One of the most eye-catching developments in the Middle East business world in recent years saw First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi merge in early 2017 to form First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). Integral to the smooth handling of this complex process was the input of both companies’ legal teams, with group general counsel Dr Nimer Basbous explaining that the team was able to achieve ‘full integration of the legacy two banks’ legal teams and undertaken a complete restructuring to align with the merged bank’s new business lines’. He describes this as, ‘no small feat given the distinct culture, team structures and standard operating procedures were very different at the legacy banks’. Now 35-persons strong, Dr Basbous was credited during the merger with ‘taking the best elements from each of the legacy banks’ legal teams and galvanising the department into a best in class legal function’), the FAB legal team is involved ‘in almost every major deal, transaction and project undertaken by the Bank’ across its 20 jurisdictions. In particular, Dr Basbous points out the team’s work on ADNOC Distribution’s AED3.1bn IPO on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange – the largest IPO on the ADX. On this deal, Dr Basbous feels it highlights the function’s ability to oversee highly complex high value projects, stating that ‘the excellent calibre of the FAB legal department means it is able to work alongside external counsel to support FAB in delivering transactions of this magnitude’. Among a large in-house team with multiple highly qualified individuals within it, a number of team members have been nominated for special mention: David Johnson (head of legal for global markets and group funding), Safira Nierojewski (head of legal for personal banking) and Laurent Hensby (head of legal for and enablement and integration) came in for particular praise. Johnson for being ‘a commercially astute derivatives and structured finance lawyer who is supporting the regulatory driven transformation of FAB’s global markets business’, Nierojewski for her work on ‘spearheading the harmonisation of FAB’s two legacy bank consumer franchises from a legal perspective’ and Hensby for ‘leading the legal team at FAB that is responsible for advising on the group’s integration, restructuring and international strategy’.