BE Magazine - August 2026

ISSUE 212 AUGUST 2026 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 27 Built from the Inside of Crisis 65% ESCWA, 2025 Nearly 65% of adults across the 22 Arab countries remain outside formal financial systems, the highest rate globally. Mobile money accounts doubled between 2020 and 2023, signalling that digital finance is the most viable path to closing this gap. BANKING EXECUTIVE YOU HAVE BUILT A CAREER MOVING ACROSS INDUSTRIES BEFORE ARRIVING AT FINTECH. WHAT DREWYOU TO THIS SPACE? Randa Naboulsi Each industry taught me something different about how money moves through organisations. Telecom taught me infrastructure thinking at scale. When I joined Monty Group, I saw those lessons converge. Fintech is infrastructure. It is the foundation layer of how people and businesses participate in the economy, and the Arab region has needed that founda- tion rebuilt for some time. The timing was shaped by circum- stance as much as choice. Lebanon's crisis in 2019 accelerated everything. When the traditional financial system came under severe pressure, the question stopped being about digital transformation and became about continuity. That is when you under- stand very clearly what financial in- frastructure is actually for. BANKING EXECUTIVE LEADING THE FINANCE FUNCTION OF A GROWING GROUP THROUGH LEBANON'S FINANCIAL CRISIS MUST HAVE BEEN AN EXTRAORDINARY TEST. WHAT DID THAT PERIOD REQUIRE OF YOU? Randa Naboulsi It required a decision that was not obvious at the time. We chose to continue building rather than to wait for conditions to stabilise. The belief inside Monty was straightforward: when recovery comes, we must be ready. So while the environment was difficult, we invested in structure. We implemented IFRS-compliant re- porting, migrated to a full ERP system without operational disruption, and built governance frameworks that al- lowed us to have credible conversa- tions with Tier 1 institutions in the UK and the Middle East. The World Bank noted in its 2024 Lebanon Sys- tematic Country Diagnostic that elec- tronic wallets and licensed non-bank payment providers had become es- sential infrastructure in the market. Monty was part of that foundation years before it became a policy ob- servation. What the period taught me is that governance and discipline are not constraints on growth. They are the conditions that make growth possi- ble, particularly when the external environment is uncertain. BANKING EXECUTIVE YOU SECURED OVER 40 MILLION DOLLARS IN INSTITUTIONAL FUNDING DURING THIS PERIOD. HOW DID YOU BUILD THAT CREDIBILITY WITH INTERNATIONAL LENDERS? Randa Naboulsi We led with structure, not story. Every conversation with a Tier 1 in- stitution began with our UK holding architecture, our governance poli- cies, our IFRS reporting, and our banking relationships. We gave insti- tutions no structural reason to be concerned by the geography. There is a perception gap that MENA-rooted businesses face with international capital, and it is real. But it is closeable. What closes it is not narrative. It is demonstrable fi- nancial discipline. When institutions see reporting frameworks, audit trails, and compliance structures that meet or exceed international stan- dards, the conversation moves from risk assessment to opportunity eval- uation. I would share this with any CFO in this region seeking international cap- ital: the barrier is rarely your business model. Build the governance infra- structure around it, and the access follows. BANKING EXECUTIVE ESCWA REPORTED IN 2025 THAT NEARLY 65 PERCENT OF ARAB ADULTS REMAIN OUTSIDE FORMAL FINANCIAL SYSTEMS. HOW DOES MONTY'S WORK CONNECT TO THAT CHALLENGE? Randa Naboulsi That figure represents both a pro- found challenge and a significant op- portunity for the entire financial services industry, banks and fintechs together. The IMF estimates that rais- ing SME financial inclusion in MENA to the global average could create six million additional jobs. SMEs repre- sent 96 percent of registered compa- nies in the Arab region and employ The question stopped being about digital transformation and became about continuity. That is when you understand what financial infrastructure is actually for. The barrier is rarely your business model. Build the governance infrastructure around it, and the access follows.