Nitish Bhojnagarwala Associate Managing Director, Financial Institutions Group Moody's Ratings

Nitish Bhojnagarwala is an Associate Managing Director with Moody’s Financial Institutions Group. Based in Dubai, Nitish covers a portfolio of large conventional as well as Islamic financial institutions in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey.

Nitish joined Moody’s in 2011, and has led sukuk roundtables and conducted workshops on Banking and Islamic finance at various conferences in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Nitish has also authored several research pieces, with a focus on regional banking, credit issues and issuer-in-depths for conventional as well as Islamic banks.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Nitish spent five years at Tamweel in the Treasury function. He has also worked for KPMG in the UAE, where he covered financial institutions. Nitish holds an MBA from S P Jain Institute of Management & Research, with a major in Finance (Investment Banking).

Ashraf Madani Vice President - Senior Credit Officer, Financial Institutions Group Moody's Ratings

Ashraf Madani is a Vice President – Senior Analyst with Moody’s Financial Institutions Group. Based in Dubai, Ashraf covers a portfolio of large conventional as well as Islamic financial institutions in GCC. He is also responsible for the Saudi and Bahrain Banking system outlooks. Since Joining Moody’s in May 2017, Ashraf has authored many research pieces focusing on GCC credit, funding and liquidity conditions in addition to issuer in depth research. Before joining Moody’s in May 2017, Ashraf’s Career has been mostly in banking with 15+ years of experience working in international and regional banks like Citi, Arab Bank and First Abu Dhabi Bank. He spent most of his banking career working in the global markets and risk divisions where he developed extensive knowledge on GCC markets. His last position before joining Moody’s has been the Head of FIs and NBFIs Risk for National Bank of Abu Dhabi (FAB now) managing the credit risk for a large portfolio of GCC and international issuers.

Badis Shubailat Assistant Vice President - Analyst, EMEA Banking Moody's Ratings

Badis Shubailat is an Analyst with Moody’s Financial Institutions Group. Based in Dubai, Badis covers a portfolio of large conventional as well as Islamic banks in the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Morocco. He is the lead analyst responsible for the Bahraini and Tunisian banking systems and also covered in the past financial institutions in Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey. Since joining Moody’s in March 2014, Badis has authored research publications focusing on GCC and North African credits as well as Islamic Banking. Badis holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from John Cabot University (Rome, Italy) and an MSc in Finance from EADA Business School (Barcelona, Spain). Badis speaks English, French, Arabic and Italian.

Francesca Paolino Assistant Vice President - Analyst, EMEA Banking Moody's Ratings

Francesca joined the Financial Institutions Group (FIG) of Moody’s Ratings in December 2014 and has broad experience in covering a wide range of banks and other financial institutions in terms of business and ownership profile. She is currently the lead analyst for banks in United Arab Emirates, Oman and some in Turkey.

Previously she worked in a private wealth management in New York and as an intern at Monte Dei Paschi di Siena in Milan. Francesca holds an MSc in Finance from Bocconi University - Milan and Bsc in Economics and Finance from University of Bologna.