financial services advisory professionals across strategy, product & execution
financial services advisory professionals across strategy, product & execution
years of combined sector experience
financial services advisory professionals across strategy, product & execution
of projects delivered with repeat client involvement
To reimagine financial consulting for a new era: where ideas move fast, execution runs deep, and results speak louder than reports.
We work as an extension of our clients, partnering with financial institutions to translate ambition into measurable results. By combining strategic clarity, executional discipline, and creative problem-solving, we deliver lasting impact and build internal capability that endures.
To reimagine financial services consulting for a new era: where ideas move fast, execution runs deep, and results speak louder than reports.
We work as an extension of our clients, partnering with financial institutions to translate ambition into measurable results. By combining strategic clarity, executional discipline, and creative problem-solving, we deliver lasting impact and build internal capability that endures.
At Ektis, we uphold the discipline and ownership expected from experienced business consultants. This ensures strategy moves into action, adapts when required, and delivers impact that is visible in outcomes more than intentions.
As a specialized financial services consulting firm, our people serve clients with deep financial services knowledge and a readiness to apply innovation where it creates a practical advantage.
Our goal is to enable institutions to grow, compete, and set new benchmarks in their markets. Close collaboration allows for alignment, responsiveness, and the agility required to move decisively as priorities evolve.
Ektis places accountability and transparency at the center of its work. We provide independent, practical advice grounded in the operating environments our clients navigate, supporting leaders to make confident decisions.
As a financial consulting partner, we nurture potential by embedding solutions that work across contexts. The emphasis remains on approaches that hold over time, supporting consistent outcomes rather than short-term gains.
Saud Makki is a Founding Partner at Ektis. Based in Riyadh, he specializes in Corporate Investment Banking (CIB), Global Transaction Banking (GTB), and Treasury Transformation. He partners closely with his clients to deliver growth and bottom-line impact by counseling senior executives and leveraging his deep understanding of how to drive change.
In addition to his 13 years of consulting experience, Saud served as Head of Financial Reporting in Samba Financial Group, one of the leading banks in Saudi Arabia. He holds an MSc in Management and Finance from the University of Leeds, UK, and a BSc in Banking and Finance from Lebanese American University (LAU), Lebanon.
Ather Marwat is a seasoned Financial Services Leader with over 25 years of experience advising Regulators, CEOs, and C-Suite Executives on a wide range of topics encompassing strategy, top-line growth and diversification strategies, organizational capabilities enhancements, risk & regulatory agenda. Previously, he served as Senior Partner in Kearney & PwC, and worked with financial institutions in +8 countries across both emerging and developed markets, including the U.K., U.S., Singapore, and the Middle East region.
In 2025, Ather founded Ektis to bring together the strategic rigour and execution discipline developed over his career into a firm dedicated to helping financial institutions implement change, not just design it.
Bikram Billan is a Financial Services Advisory leader with deep experience supporting banks, insurers, and payments institutions across the Middle East. Educated at Bayes Business School in London and a Chartered Accountant (ACCA), he began his consulting career at PwC in London before advising leading regional institutions through PwC ME and Kearney ME.
Over the course of a decade, he has led complex strategy and transformation initiatives focused exclusively on Financial Services, with a strong emphasis on Insurance in recent years. His work spans growth and portfolio strategy through to large-scale transformation across front-office, core operations, and financial performance, combining technical depth with pragmatic, execution-led delivery.
Hamza Sajjad Sarwar is a CFA charterholder and seasoned financial services professional with more than a decade of global consulting experience across South Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He has served in senior consulting roles at PwC and Kearney and is now part of the leadership team at Ektis.
Over the span of his career, he has led engagements on critical Risk & Regulatory topics like Collections Transformation, Anti-Fraud and Transaction Monitoring, as well as Top Line growth projects like Sales & Product Factory Activation for major clients that include Banks, FinTech, Finance Companies, Central Banks, and Insurance Companies.
Antel Sagia is a financial services transformation leader with over a decade of experience building, fixing, and scaling banking and digital businesses across the Middle East. With a background spanning engineering, banking, and top-tier consulting, he has led major transformation programs at PwC and McKinsey & Company.
From launching digital products and optimizing retail banking performance to redesigning operating models and driving large-scale transformation, Antel specializes in turning strategy into execution. His work sits at the intersection of business, technology, and customer experience, with a strong focus on delivering real, measurable impact. At Ektis, he is focused on building an agile, execution-driven consulting model that helps financial institutions execute strategy at pace.
Ahmed is a senior financial services professional with over a decade of international consulting experience across Asia and the Middle East. He holds a degree in Business Administration with a focus on economics, finance, and entrepreneurship. He has held multiple consulting roles at PwC and Kearney, progressing rapidly through fast-track promotions, and is now a member of the leadership team at Ektis.
Ahmed has led complex Sales Activation Transformation, Risk and Regulatory initiatives, including Collections, as well as Private Banking and Wealth Management optimization. In parallel, he is an entrepreneur and founder of a chain of Brands in Saudi Arabia. He has worked across Banking, FinTech, and Insurance Industries.
Mehrunnisa Khan is a Manager at Ektis, working with financial institutions on strategy, product development, and go-to-market execution, with a focus on digital and fee-based products. She has experience across development finance, banking, and corporate environments. At Kearney, she supported banks on sales transformation, corporate product development, and journey digitization.
At Karandaaz Pakistan, a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation–backed impact fund, she evaluated startups and SMEs for supporting credit assessment, business model validation, and post-investment advisory. Across her roles, she has worked closely with senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Seham Ahmad is a finance and consulting professional with experience in strategy execution, financial planning, and performance management in the Middle East and South Asia. She was a Consultant at Kearney, supporting clients with financial modeling, strategic planning, and data-driven decision-making.
Prior to consulting, she spent over eight years at Coca-Cola CCI, holding finance roles across budgeting, commercial business partnering, and regional financial operations. Seham holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Roman Kurov is a management consultant with six years of local and cross-border experience across the financial services and retail sectors. His experience includes payments, banking, and SME-focused solutions, with expertise in customer journey design, segmentation, digital product development, including mobile applications, and go-to-market strategy.
He has held roles at Kearney and Mastercard Data & Services, where he led initiatives spanning loyalty programs, organizational structures, and risk management, and used data analysis tools, including Python, Alteryx, Tableau, VBA, and big data analytics. Roman has delivered projects across Russia and the Middle East, working with diverse markets and operating contexts.
Abid Khan brings 28 years of specialized experience across retail banking, wealth management, and private banking, developed through senior roles in the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Central Asia. He has led large-scale transformation initiatives spanning AML compliance framework design and implementation, bancassurance product and distribution revamps, and capital markets activities, including brokerage and asset management distribution strategy and execution.
His career includes senior positions at ADCB, RBS, ABN AMRO, Standard Chartered, and LGT, where he built strong relationship management teams and strengthened wealth advisory capabilities. As a CISI Level 3 Certified Wealth Manager, Abid combines frontline commercial experience with a deep understanding of client needs, risk management, and product suitability.
Adnan Khan is a senior retail and consumer banking leader with over 30 years of experience across Islamic and multinational financial institutions. He has held leadership roles at globally recognized banks, including Citibank, ABN AMRO/RBS, Al Rajhi Bank, NIB Bank, and the Commercial Bank of Dubai, with accountability spanning retail strategy, credit and portfolio management, risk governance, product development, digital enablement, and distribution.
He is particularly known for aligning commercial objectives with disciplined risk management, strengthening control environments, and embedding sustainable operating practices in complex, regulated markets. In his consulting role, Adnan brings deep insight to advising banks on retail transformation, risk and credit frameworks, operating model design, and performance improvement.
Axel Gross is a senior corporate and investment banking leader with over 30 years of experience across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He excels in global capital markets, transaction banking, and treasury, designing strategies that boost income, optimize capital, and enhance risk-adjusted returns for wholesale banks.
For over two decades at Deutsche Bank, he led senior roles defining CIB strategies and growing wallet share with corporates and sovereigns. Later at PwC Middle East and Kearney, he helped GCC banks redesign franchise strategies, emphasizing fee and non-yield income. Recognized for product expertise in dynamic markets, he advanced client product density and RoRWA/RAROC metrics. Axel built multicultural teams, developed leaders, and forged C-suite/regulator ties, balancing growth with risk discipline.
Anna Maslovska is a senior finance and business leader with over 25 years of experience in financial management, business planning, operations, and strategy across Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. She has built deep expertise in management reporting, CFO-level leadership, pricing, OpEx optimization, and performance governance within global, multi-billion-dollar organizations.
She has held senior finance leadership roles at Visa, Nokia, and Nokia Siemens Networks, with industry experience spanning global digital payments and financial services, as well as telecom and IT. Her background combines strong financial discipline with operational execution, transformation leadership, and cross-market coordination in complex environments.
Ami Cosgrove brings over 20 years of experience across data, technology, and financial services transformation in the Middle East. During her 17-year tenure at PwC, she led major initiatives that strengthened governance, modernized operating models, and enabled human-centered change across regional institutions.
As Chief Operating Officer, she drives execution by setting clear priorities and enabling teams to deliver outcomes that translate into real-world impact. Known for her calm leadership and ability to bring structure to complex environments, Ami focuses on making transformation practical, sustainable, and meaningful for the people who drive it.
Zara Basharat Higgs is a senior communications and public policy leader with 18 years of international experience across media, technology, FMCG, telecommunications, and the development sector. She has guided complex regulatory and reputational mandates, built regional policy programs, and led cross-market teams for global organizations including TikTok, Jazz, PepsiCo, Nestlé, the World Bank, and the United Nations Information Centre.
Her work spans narrative development, stakeholder engagement, sustainability strategy, and advisory roles with startups and nonprofits across the MEA region. She holds an MBA from London Business School and has completed executive programs at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a Boehm Media Fellow, Women’s Impact Alliance Fellow, and IVLP alumna.
Ather Marwat is a seasoned Financial Services Leader with over 25 years of experience advising Regulators, CEOs, and C-Suite Executives on a wide range of topics encompassing strategy, top-line growth and diversification strategies, organizational capabilities enhancements, risk & regulatory agenda. Previously, he served as Senior Partner in Kearney & PwC, and worked with financial institutions in +8 countries across both emerging and developed markets, including the U.K., U.S., Singapore, and the Middle East region.
In 2025, Ather founded Ektis to bring together the strategic rigour and execution discipline developed over his career into a firm dedicated to helping financial institutions implement change, not just design it.
Saud Makki is a Founding Partner at Ektis. Based in Riyadh, he specializes in Corporate Investment Banking (CIB), Global Transaction Banking (GTB), and Treasury Transformation. He partners closely with his clients to deliver growth and bottom-line impact by counseling senior executives and leveraging his deep understanding of how to drive change.
In addition to his 13 years of consulting experience, Saud served as Head of Financial Reporting in Samba Financial Group, one of the leading banks in Saudi Arabia. He holds an MSc in Management and Finance from the University of Leeds, UK, and a BSc in Banking and Finance from Lebanese American University (LAU), Lebanon.
Bikram Billan is a Financial Services Advisory leader with deep experience supporting banks, insurers, and payments institutions across the Middle East. Educated at Bayes Business School in London and a Chartered Accountant (ACCA), he began his consulting career at PwC in London before advising leading regional institutions through PwC ME and Kearney ME.
Over the course of a decade, he has led complex strategy and transformation initiatives focused exclusively on Financial Services, with a strong emphasis on Insurance in recent years. His work spans growth and portfolio strategy through to large-scale transformation across front-office, core operations, and financial performance, combining technical depth with pragmatic, execution-led delivery.
Hamza Sajjad Sarwar is a CFA charterholder and seasoned financial services professional with more than a decade of global consulting experience across South Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He has served in senior consulting roles at PwC and Kearney and is now part of the leadership team at Ektis.
Over the span of his career, he has led engagements on critical Risk & Regulatory topics like Collections Transformation, Anti-Fraud and Transaction Monitoring, as well as Top Line growth projects like Sales & Product Factory Activation for major clients that include Banks, FinTech, Finance Companies, Central Banks, and Insurance Companies.
Antel Sagia is a financial services transformation leader with over a decade of experience building, fixing, and scaling banking and digital businesses across the Middle East. With a background spanning engineering, banking, and top-tier consulting, he has led major transformation programs at PwC and McKinsey & Company.
From launching digital products and optimizing retail banking performance to redesigning operating models and driving large-scale transformation, Antel specializes in turning strategy into execution. His work sits at the intersection of business, technology, and customer experience, with a strong focus on delivering real, measurable impact. At Ektis, he is focused on building an agile, execution-driven consulting model that helps financial institutions execute strategy at pace.
Ahmed is a senior financial services professional with over a decade of international consulting experience across Asia and the Middle East. He holds a degree in Business Administration with a focus on economics, finance, and entrepreneurship. He has held multiple consulting roles at PwC and Kearney, progressing rapidly through fast-track promotions, and is now a member of the leadership team at Ektis.
Ahmed has led complex Sales Activation Transformation, Risk and Regulatory initiatives, including Collections, as well as Private Banking and Wealth Management optimization. In parallel, he is an entrepreneur and founder of a chain of Brands in Saudi Arabia. He has worked across Banking, FinTech, and Insurance Industries.
Mehrunnisa Khan is a Manager at Ektis, working with financial institutions on strategy, product development, and go-to-market execution, with a focus on digital and fee-based products. She has experience across development finance, banking, and corporate environments. At Kearney, she supported banks on sales transformation, corporate product development, and journey digitization.
At Karandaaz Pakistan, a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation–backed impact fund, she evaluated startups and SMEs for supporting credit assessment, business model validation, and post-investment advisory. Across her roles, she has worked closely with senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Seham Ahmad is a finance and consulting professional with experience in strategy execution, financial planning, and performance management in the Middle East and South Asia. She was a Consultant at Kearney, supporting clients with financial modeling, strategic planning, and data-driven decision-making.
Prior to consulting, she spent over eight years at Coca-Cola CCI, holding finance roles across budgeting, commercial business partnering, and regional financial operations. Seham holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Lahore University of Management Sciences.
Roman Kurov is a management consultant with six years of local and cross-border experience across the financial services and retail sectors. His experience includes payments, banking, and SME-focused solutions, with expertise in customer journey design, segmentation, digital product development, including mobile applications, and go-to-market strategy.
He has held roles at Kearney and Mastercard Data & Services, where he led initiatives spanning loyalty programs, organizational structures, and risk management, and used data analysis tools, including Python, Alteryx, Tableau, VBA, and big data analytics. Roman has delivered projects across Russia and the Middle East, working with diverse markets and operating contexts.
Abid Khan brings 28 years of specialized experience across retail banking, wealth management, and private banking, developed through senior roles in the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Central Asia. He has led large-scale transformation initiatives spanning AML compliance framework design and implementation, bancassurance product and distribution revamps, and capital markets activities, including brokerage and asset management distribution strategy and execution.
His career includes senior positions at ADCB, RBS, ABN AMRO, Standard Chartered, and LGT, where he built strong relationship management teams and strengthened wealth advisory capabilities. As a CISI Level 3 Certified Wealth Manager, Abid combines frontline commercial experience with a deep understanding of client needs, risk management, and product suitability.
Adnan Khan is a senior retail and consumer banking leader with over 30 years of experience across Islamic and multinational financial institutions. He has held leadership roles at globally recognized banks, including Citibank, ABN AMRO/RBS, Al Rajhi Bank, NIB Bank, and the Commercial Bank of Dubai, with accountability spanning retail strategy, credit and portfolio management, risk governance, product development, digital enablement, and distribution.
He is particularly known for aligning commercial objectives with disciplined risk management, strengthening control environments, and embedding sustainable operating practices in complex, regulated markets. In his consulting role, Adnan brings deep insight to advising banks on retail transformation, risk and credit frameworks, operating model design, and performance improvement.
Axel Gross is a senior corporate and investment banking leader with over 30 years of experience across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He excels in global capital markets, transaction banking, and treasury, designing strategies that boost income, optimize capital, and enhance risk-adjusted returns for wholesale banks.
For over two decades at Deutsche Bank, he led senior roles defining CIB strategies and growing wallet share with corporates and sovereigns. Later at PwC Middle East and Kearney, he helped GCC banks redesign franchise strategies, emphasizing fee and non-yield income. Recognized for product expertise in dynamic markets, he advanced client product density and RoRWA/RAROC metrics. Axel built multicultural teams, developed leaders, and forged C-suite/regulator ties, balancing growth with risk discipline.
Anna Maslovska is a senior finance and business leader with over 25 years of experience in financial management, business planning, operations, and strategy across Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. She has built deep expertise in management reporting, CFO-level leadership, pricing, OpEx optimization, and performance governance within global, multi-billion-dollar organizations.
She has held senior finance leadership roles at Visa, Nokia, and Nokia Siemens Networks, with industry experience spanning global digital payments and financial services, as well as telecom and IT. Her background combines strong financial discipline with operational execution, transformation leadership, and cross-market coordination in complex environments.
Ami Cosgrove brings over 20 years of experience across data, technology, and financial services transformation in the Middle East. During her 17-year tenure at PwC, she led major initiatives that strengthened governance, modernized operating models, and enabled human-centered change across regional institutions.
As Chief Operating Officer, she drives execution by setting clear priorities and enabling teams to deliver outcomes that translate into real-world impact. Known for her calm leadership and ability to bring structure to complex environments, Ami focuses on making transformation practical, sustainable, and meaningful for the people who drive it.
Zara Basharat Higgs is a senior communications and public policy leader with 18 years of international experience across media, technology, FMCG, telecommunications, and the development sector. She has guided complex regulatory and reputational mandates, built regional policy programs, and led cross-market teams for global organizations including TikTok, Jazz, PepsiCo, Nestlé, the World Bank, and the United Nations Information Centre.
Her work spans narrative development, stakeholder engagement, sustainability strategy, and advisory roles with startups and nonprofits across the MEA region. She holds an MBA from London Business School and has completed executive programs at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a Boehm Media Fellow, Women’s Impact Alliance Fellow, and IVLP alumna.
We work closely with financial institutions on decisions that matter, and we invest in our people as they build judgment, expertise, and confidence over time. We value curiosity, collaboration, and thoughtful contribution, and we offer hands-on exposure to real client work with support as responsibilities grow. If you are looking for a shared commitment to quality and continuous learning, explore our career opportunities.
We work closely with financial institutions on decisions that matter, and we invest in our people as they build judgment, expertise, and confidence over time. We value curiosity, collaboration, and thoughtful contribution, and we offer hands-on exposure to real client work with support as responsibilities grow. If you are looking for a shared commitment to quality and continuous learning, explore our career opportunities.
