Al Zaabi named Taqa chairman and Egypt’s NBE says its serious about growing in the UAE

#1- Jassem Al Zaabi is the new chairman of Taqa after shareholders signed off on a shuffle of the board of directors. Industry and Advanced Technology Minister Sultan Al Jaber — who double-hats as chief of oil giant Adnoc — will be vice chairman, according to an ADX disclosure (pdf). Al Zaabi is currently vice chairman at the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) and chairman of ADQ-backed developer Modon. Modon is building out the UAE’s massive Ras El Hekma investment in Egypt.

#2- Sherif Elbehery (LinkedIn) will lead the National Bank of Egypt’s Emirati operations as CEO, he tells EnterpriseAM. Elbehery was most recently CEO of Onebank, which is on deck to launch as Egypt’s first digital-native bank. He was previously with Banque Misr, Barclays Egypt, and Citibank. “NBE has big plans in the UAE. We are looking into upgrading our DIFC license to offer a full-fledged investment banking experience,” he told us.