Elmer is a Vice President – Portfolio Head at MARC Ratings. Based in Kuala Lumpur, he covers a portfolio of financial institutions in Malaysia.

Prior to joining MARC, Elmer served 13 years at the Central Bank of Malaysia, primarily in the area of bank supervision covering domestic banking groups, where he assessed the financial strength and risk management practices of commercial, Islamic and investment banks.

Elmer has a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting from Indiana University-Bloomington. He is also a CFA charterholder.

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).

Alexander Perjéssy is Vice President – Senior Credit Officer at the Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group.

Based in Dubai, he has lead analyst responsibilities for a number of sovereigns in the Middle East, including most of the Gulf Cooperation Council member states and several regional multilateral institutions.

Prior to joining Moody’s in November 2017, Alex worked for two years as economist at the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Before relocating to the Middle East, Alex spent more than 12 years covering macroeconomic developments and sovereign risk assessment in the emerging markets of the EMEA region for AllianceBernstein and The Rohatyn Group, both US-based asset management firms in New York, as well as for Goldman Sachs in London.

Alex holds an MA in Economics from the University of Maryland and a BA in Economics from Middlebury College.

Abdulla Al Hammadi serves as an Assistant Vice President with Moody's Financial Institutions Group. He is based in Dubai, where he oversees a portfolio of bank credit ratings across the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, with a particular emphasis on Islamic financial institutions.

Abdulla joined Moody’s in 2024. Prior to his tenure at Moody's, Abdulla was an Associate Director at Fitch Ratings, covering financial institution ratings in the Middle East. Before Fitch Ratings, he was with the Central Bank of Bahrain, handling prudential supervision for wholesale banks.

Abdulla is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and earned a First-Class Honours degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Bahrain. He authored a book titled "Principles of Financial planning, Investment & Trading" aimed at providing comprehensive overview on passive style investment portfolio.

CJ Wong is an Analyst with Moody’s Financial Institutions Group.

Based in Singapore, CJ covers a portfolio of banks and non-bank financial institutions in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Vietnam

Prior to joining Moody’s, CJ worked as a research analyst in the Dividend Forecasting team at IHS Markit, where he was responsible for providing estimates on financial institutions and corporates in Australia and Singapore.

CJ holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Sydney, majoring in Finance and Economics. He is a CFA Charterholder.

Aziz Al Sammarai joined Moody’s Corporate Finance in April, 2018. Aziz is based in Toronto office where he covers a portfolio of U.S. and Canadian based companies mainly in the paper and plastic packaging and forest products industry as well as Canadian based airlines and homebuilders. Prior to joining Moody’s, Aziz held multiple roles in the credit rating industry in Toronto. Previously, Aziz worked in external audit roles for KPMG.

Aziz has a Master’s in Finance from the Queen's University and a B.Sc. in Finance from the University of Bedfordshire Oman.

Ibrahim works as Associate Lead Analyst, Sustainable Finance at Moody's Ratings and is primarily responsible for conducting external reviews on the frameworks of Green, Social and Sustainability-labelled financial instruments. Ibrahim has worked on issuing more than 30 Second Party Opinions covering sovereigns and issuers across APAC and Europe. His research coverage mainly includes the banking, real estate, commodities, and utilities sectors. 

Prior to Moody's, Ibrahim was a lead researcher at NUS Business School's Centre for Governance and Sustainability, publishing ESG indices covering APAC markets. He has co-authored numerous industry reports in corporate governance, sustainability, and family business domains and has been a regular speaker promulgating good governance and responsible investing in the region. 

Ibrahim holds a Master of Business Administration (Strategy) and a Bachelor of Business Administration (Accountancy), both from the National University of Singapore. He is a Chartered Accountant (CA) of Singapore, as well as a CFA Charterholder.