For stablecoin issuers, banks, exchanges, law firms, technology providers, regulators and policy professionals operating in, or connecting to, the Middle East.
Legal, Regulatory Affairs, Compliance and Governance Committee (LRACG)
The committee at the centre of MESA's regulatory, policy and standards agenda. It monitors and analyses stablecoin regulation across the jurisdictions covered by MESA's research, prepares MESA's responses to regulatory consultations, and supports policy dialogue with regulators and supervisory authorities within positions the MESA Board has approved. It develops compliance and governance good practice standards for the industry and publishes its research freely. The committee does not provide legal, regulatory or compliance advice to any individual institution and does not represent the interests of any member firm before a regulator.
Kokila Alagh
Co-Chair
Kokila Alagh is the Founder of KARM Legal Consultants, a boutique law firm specialising in fintech, blockchain, and digital transformation, with more than twenty years of experience as a corporate, commercial, and technology lawyer in the UAE. She was selected as one of only seven global experts to draft the Commonwealth Secretariat's Model Law on Virtual Assets, served on the expert drafting team for the Commonwealth Model Law on Stablecoins, and is co-author of Stablecoins and the Future of Financial Regulation. She holds a Master of Laws from Monash University with executive programmes at Harvard Business School and the University of Oxford, and her expertise is consistently recognised by Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500 EMEA.
Ilham Tamimi
Co-Chair
Ilham Tamimi is a Senior Compliance Executive and the Founder and Managing Director of FinEthica Advisory, with more than thirty years of international experience driving regulatory transformation, governance excellence, and ethical leadership across the global financial sector. Her career spans the UK, the US, Europe, and the Middle East, including global head roles at HSBC Holdings Plc and regional head roles at Citigroup, where she worked extensively with regulators including the UK FCA and PRA, the US OCC, and the HKMA. Continuing in the UAE with First Abu Dhabi Bank and Zand Bank, she is a CBUAE and VARA approved CCO and MLRO and has worked closely with the CBUAE, SCA, and VARA. A Fellow Member of the ICA (UK) and a Certified AI Ethicist, she holds the ICA Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Crime Compliance and executive qualifications with Distinction from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
Matthew Nyman
Co-Chair
Matthew Nyman is a banking and finance lawyer specialising in fintech, cryptocurrency, blockchain and digital assets. As Of Counsel at CMS Abu Dhabi, he advises fintech businesses, crypto issuers, exchanges and custodians on regulatory and transactional matters, drawing on extensive legal and in-house experience.
Noora Al Bahrani
Deputy Chair
Noora Al Bahrani is a Senior Compliance, Financial Crime, and Governance executive with more than twenty years of experience across banking, wealth and asset management, digital assets, custody, and regulated financial services. She has held senior leadership roles within global financial institutions and digital asset businesses, building and leading compliance and financial crime frameworks, supporting licensing and market entry, and leading global transaction monitoring across fiat and digital asset activity. She brings extensive Board and committee-level experience spanning regulatory risk, governance, enterprise risk, and emerging technology, and has contributed to regulatory consultations on payments and digital assets across the UAE and international markets.
Treasury Committee (TRC)
The practitioner forum for corporate treasury's engagement with stablecoins. The committee convenes treasurers and finance leaders to share knowledge and develop best practices on receiving and holding stablecoins, engaging with licensed issuers, digital liquidity management and settlement. It publishes research on treasury use cases and payment corridors under MESA's published frameworks, freely available, and develops industry level operational good practice on controls, reconciliation and risk themes. The committee operates as a peer learning forum; it does not advise any corporate or institution on its own treasury arrangements and does not recommend, endorse or rank any provider, token or platform.
Andre Olivier
Co-Chair
Andre Olivier is an international treasury executive with close to two decades of experience leading treasury functions across five continents, spanning fintech, payments and lending, digital assets, oil and gas, and M&A. He most recently served as Vice President, Global Treasury at PayU, directing treasury operations and strategy across more than 25 markets, following senior roles at MultiChoice, Puma Energy, and Trafigura, where he built and managed the company's first US treasury division. He currently advises ADNOC Group Treasury and Risk Management, and his career highlights include growing an NBFI's debt funding tenfold in five years and implementing treasury management systems across ten countries.
Khaloud Alhammadi
Deputy Chair
Khaloud Alhammadi is a finance specialist with more than sixteen years of experience spanning treasury management, financial planning and analysis, auditing, cost control, portfolio management, and trade finance. She has held roles with Abu Dhabi Ports, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, National Bank of Fujairah, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and First Gulf Bank, where she led treasury transformation initiatives, managed government corporate portfolios, and oversaw fund management, working capital optimisation, and bond issuance related audit remediation.
Meticulous Dube
Secretary
Meticulous Tendai Dube is a treasury and finance leader with more than seventeen years of experience, including over eight years leading Group and Regional Treasury across the UAE, the wider Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. She is currently Group Treasury Manager, Transformation and Advisory at Etihad Development Company, the infrastructure development and investment arm of Etihad Water and Electricity, where she is leading the establishment of the group treasury function. Her earlier career spans TotalEnergies, where she led regional treasury for the Renewables Distributed Generation hub, and Group Treasurer and senior treasury roles across FMCG, beverages, and manufacturing, with deep expertise in liquidity, funding and debt strategy, FX risk, and treasury governance.
Joseph Cleetus
Co-Chair
Joseph Cleetus is a financial-services and business-transformation professional with experience across payments, financial infrastructure and strategic planning. His work spans business transformation, cross-border payments and financial solutions across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Mohamed Kortam
Deputy Chair / Chair, Ecosystems Subcommittee
Mohamed Kortam is a seasoned Treasurer with 15 years of experience across the Middle East and Africa region, driving corporate finance, liquidity, and risk-management strategies for diverse industries. Alongside his corporate role at Optasia as the Vice President for Capital Markets and Structure Funding Group, he is also the Founder of MEA Treasurers and host of its podcast which aims to building a vibrant community that connects and empowers Treasurers across the region.
Banking Committee (BAC)
A dedicated forum for banking professionals navigating the sector's interaction with stablecoins. The committee convenes practitioners to share knowledge and develop best practices on the questions banks face in practice, including account access, transaction monitoring, risk appetite and de-risking policies. It contributes to policy and framework dialogue across the banking sector by convening necessary key players in one room. The committee operates as a peer learning forum in the public interest. It does not broker, introduce or arrange banking relationships for any member or firm, and does not advise any bank on onboarding or on any specific customer or counterparty.
Finali Fernando
Co-Chair
Finali Fernando is Managing Director, Regional Head of Products, Business Management and Risk for Global Payment Solutions at HSBC, covering the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey. With more than thirty years at HSBC, her expertise spans cash management, global payments solutions, operations, business management, and risk, including over two decades of Middle East and UAE experience managing local and regional teams. She chairs the UBF Transaction Banking Committee and serves as a Board Member of the Women in Payments Middle East Chapter.
Mohanraj Baskaran
Committee Secretary
Mohanraj Baskaran works as a Product Analyst in Digital Assets at RAKBANK, focused on stablecoin and digital asset brokerage initiatives at the intersection of traditional banking and decentralised finance. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Systems Engineering from the National University of Singapore, with prior experience across corporate banking, collateral management, and M&A in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Dishang Patel
Co-Chair
Dishang Patel is Head of Digital Assets at RAKBANK, working at the intersection of banking and blockchain. His career spans senior digital assets and fintech leadership roles including Head of Products, Digital Assets and Partnerships at Commercial Bank of Dubai and Head of FinTech Engagement and Emerging Technology at Emirates NBD, alongside Founding Partner and COO of Leading Point Financial Markets in London. Earlier, he delivered technology and change programmes across global institutions including JPMorgan, Citi, HSBC, and Societe Generale, and he remains an investor and advisor in growth-stage ventures.
Technology, Innovation and Education Committee (TIEC)
The committee leading education and knowledge exchange on stablecoin technology. It develops industry level technical good practice guidance on themes such as cybersecurity, interoperability and resilience, through open consultation with practitioners and experts, and exchanges knowledge with academic and international bodies. It also leads MESA's educational programming and public awareness work, equipping professionals, students and the wider public with accurate, balanced knowledge of digital finance. Its outputs are published freely in support of MESA's public interest mission. The committee does not certify, endorse or rank any vendor, protocol or product, and does not provide implementation or design consulting to any firm.
Ramana Kumar
Co-Chair
Ramana Kumar is a banking, fintech, and payments executive with more than twenty years of experience driving transformation across banking, digital payments, and financial infrastructure in the UAE and the Middle East. He currently serves as President of Stablecoin Ecosystem at ADI Foundation, and was previously CEO Middle East at Paytm and the founding CEO of Magnati, the payments subsidiary of First Abu Dhabi Bank, where he led the transformation of the bank's payment infrastructure. Earlier, he held senior leadership roles at First Abu Dhabi Bank and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, overseeing digital banking, payments, and global transaction banking, delivering first-to-market initiatives in payments modernisation and financial inclusion.
Zarah Jennika Estermann
Deputy Chair
Zarah Jennika Estermann is the Global Banking and Capital Market Partnerships Lead at Chainlink Labs, where she previously led global tokenisation partnerships. Her career spans digital assets, custody, and financial market infrastructure, including Markets Director roles at Ripple Custody and Metaco, and earlier digital strategy work with Swisscom Digital Technology. She holds a Master in Business Innovation and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen.
Kristiina Lumeste
Co-Chair
Kristiina Lumeste is a recognised leader in digital asset fund management, real-world asset tokenisation, and regulatory strategy, and the Founder and Senior Executive Officer of Klumi Ventures, where she secured the first digital assets licence for venture firms and virtual asset funds in the UAE under Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). She serves as a Digital Assets Startup Reviewer and Evaluation Board Member for Hub71, regularly advises governments, corporate entities, and regulatory bodies on digital asset frameworks and fund tokenisation strategies, and was behind the first Binance Labs backed NFT marketplace, overseeing the launch of more than 200 projects in a single year.
Dyma Budorin
Deputy Chair
Dyma Budorin is the CEO of Hacken Group and Co-Founder of Hacken, which he scaled from an idea into a leading global Web3 cybersecurity brand trusted by Tier 1 blockchain protocols, enterprises, and regulators, with more than 150 professionals across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. With over eighteen years in cybersecurity and audit, including senior roles at Deloitte, he has been instrumental in advancing Proof of Reserves as an industry standard for exchange transparency and has driven VASP and CASP regulatory readiness frameworks. He is an ACCA member, a published author, Vice President of the Blockchain Association of Ukraine, and a former Board Member of INATBA and Co-Chair within the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.
Strategic Marketing Committee
The committee carrying MESA's outward facing standards remit on responsible marketing. It develops industry wide responsible marketing guidelines for stablecoins, including standards on accuracy, artificial intelligence disclosure and data protection, aligned with the marketing provisions of the applicable UAE regulatory frameworks, and publishes them freely. It advises MESA's internal marketing team on applying those guidelines to the Association's own communications and events. The committee does not review, approve or advise on any individual firm's promotions or campaigns, and does not endorse or add credibility to any company's products or services.
Emmanuel Ofosu‑Appiah
Co-Chair
Emmanuel Ofosu-Appiah is a financial and corporate communications specialist with more than twelve years of experience across the UK and the UAE, most recently as an Associate Director at Edelman Smithfield Middle East. He advises financial institutions on corporate reputation, strategic communications, C-suite profile raising, and crisis and issues management, with earlier roles at Mercer, Kekst CNC, FTI Consulting, and Havas, having begun his career at Brunswick through the Taylor Bennett Foundation trainee scheme. He was named a PR Industry Trailblazer by the PRCA in 2023, listed in the PRovoke Media Innovator EMEA list, and is a recognised advocate for diversity and inclusion, having served as Vice Chair of the PRCA Race and Ethnicity Equity Board.
Sonia Weber
Deputy Chair
Sonia Weber is a marketing and payments leader with more than twenty years in marketing and payments, spanning senior roles at L'Oréal, American Express, Monzo, and Wave Mobile Money. Her focus today is on AI, stablecoins, and emerging payment technologies, where she develops thought leadership examining how these innovations should be adopted and who they truly benefit.
Dipti Sudhir
Co-Chair
Dipti Sudhir is a commercial marketing and digital transformation leader with more than twenty years of experience spanning brand strategy, digital capability, and AI-led growth. She most recently served as Head of Digital Marketing and Corporate Brand at Britannia Industries, the global FMCG leader, where she led enterprise-wide marketing modernisation across a remit covering more than ninety countries, with earlier leadership roles at Intel, Himalaya Wellness, and Lowe Lintas. A London Business School Sloan Fellow graduating with Distinction, she was named among India's Top Digital Marketing Leaders by E4M in 2023 and holds APAC MMA Smarties recognition for Web 3.0 technologies marketing.
Infrastructure Committee
The committee advancing research, education and standards on stablecoin market infrastructure. It convenes infrastructure, technology and financial institution expertise to examine, at industry level, the payment rails, custody models, settlement arrangements and operational resilience that underpin stablecoin issuance, transfer, settlement and interoperability, including how such infrastructure interacts with existing payment systems. It publishes its research freely, develops good practice standards on resilience and operational continuity, and contributes to policy dialogue on infrastructure questions within Board approved positions. The committee does not operate, procure or commercialise any infrastructure, does not recommend or select providers, and does not provide institution specific architecture or vendor advice.
Ramy Soliman
Co-Chair
Ramy Soliman is a digital assets and stablecoin executive with more than two decades of experience across FX, electronic trading, and regulated digital currency businesses. He most recently served as President of GMO-Z.com Trust Company, the New York State trust company supervised by NYDFS that issues the first regulated JPY-pegged stablecoin, GYEN, alongside the digital dollar ZUSD, following senior roles at Citi, Integral, IG Markets, and as CEO of Stater Global Markets, an FCA regulated prime-of-prime brokerage. He is a Co-Founder of Stablecoin Standard, the global industry body for stablecoin issuers, and Vice Chair of the Digital Assets Committee at ACI Financial Markets Association.
Lukasz Dec
Co-Chair
Lukasz Dec brings more than eighteen years of experience building products across fintech, Web3, and e-commerce, including a decade running his own software business in Europe. Most recently, he spent two years inside one of the largest banks in the Middle East, working directly on an AED-pegged stablecoin, open banking, and digital assets, and is now building stablecoin infrastructure designed for the region and its regulatory frameworks. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Stealth start up in Abu Dhabi.
