The LBBC Team

Rajeev Adrian is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of ABC International Bank plc.

He joined ABCIB in October 2014 as CFO and 18 months later was also made Deputy CEO and Board Director.

Prior to joining ABCIB he worked at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) where he held various positions including CFO of International Banking, Chief Administration Officer of Global Banking and Markets and Senior Strategist.

Rajeev Adrian served at Lehman Brothers London as Strategist in the European Corporate Strategy Division, Product Controller of the Investment Banking Division and Head of the Business Analysis Team.  He started his career in Australia working at the Office of hte Auditor General and the Australian Securities Commission.

Rajeev Adrian holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia, a Master of Business Administration from Cranfield University and is a Fellow of the Australian Society of Certified Practicing Accountants.  He was the President of the European Branch of CPA Australia from 2017–2018.

He joined the LBBC Board as a Director in July 2021.

Melanie Butler is a Partner at PwC and leads their Global Crisis Centre “GCC”, which acts as a trusted guide to clients as they prepare for, respond to and recover from the crises they face. Prior to her GCC role, she led our Deals Advisory practice based in Tripoli, Libya, post-revolution. Her clients included the National Transitional Council’s Temporary Financing Mechanism, Ministries of Health, Housing and Education, World Bank [WB] and General Electric Company of Libya [GECOL]. She has been a partner at PwC in the UK since 2003.

A forensic accountant by background, Melanie’s experience is focused on crisis response, financial management, investigations and contract examinations, in particular the areas of transparency, accountability and governance. She joined the Board of the LBBC in 2014.

Tarek is a dual Libyan/New York qualified lawyer with a broad practice that covers general corporate and commercial matters (foreign direct investment, joint ventures, restructurings), project development, finance and dispute resolution. He works principally in the sovereign wealth, energy, infrastructure and telecommunications sectors, with a geographic focus mainly on Libya, but also on Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa more generally.

Tarek practised in Tripoli, Libya for just under 10 years where he advised on a range of innovative international finance deals and major infrastructure, oil and gas and tourism projects. Tarek went on to work as General Counsel of AECOM Libya Housing and Infrastructure Inc., where he directed all legal issues arising from the US$55bn Libyan Housing and Infrastructure Program.

During the 2011 Libyan uprising, he served as special advisor and member of staff of the Prime Minister of Libya appointed by the National Transitional Council.

Tarek then went on to join the international law firm Hogan Lovells 2012 where he ran that firm’s Libya Practice and was a member of the Infrastructure, Energy, Resources and Projects practice.  Tarek became Partner at that firm and retired in June 2018 to pursue establishing Eltumi & Co as a leading Libyan law practice.

Tarek is fluent in both English and Arabic and is widely published on matters of Libyan law.

With a significant wholesale banking career, Paul brings a wealth of experience from a variety of roles in the City of London. He spent the past 20 years at ABC International Bank where he was appointed Managing Director & CEO in 2015. Paul’s previous experience includes positions covering trade, commodity and structured export finance. Additionally he is a Board member of BACB sister bank Banca UBAE, and was formerly a Board Director of the Libyan British Business Council (LBBC) and the Arab Bankers Association, giving him a unique understanding of BACB’s core markets, products and services.

Paul was invited to join the Board of BACB as Independent Non-Executive Director in August 2021, before being appointed Chief Banking Officer and Deputy CEO in November 2021. In April 2023 Paul was appointed as Chief Executive Officer.

Paul joined as a Director of the LBBC in June 2023.

Assad Riyany is currently the head of Libyan business at Bank ABC Europe based in London and heads a team responsible for Bank ABC’s Libyan relationships including, Banks, Corporate and non-Banking Institutions covering all wholesale banking products with a particular focus on Trade and Transaction Banking.  Assad started with Bank ABC in the Treasury Department in a number of roles culminating in being appointed as Head of Treasury Sales for ABC international Bank (European subsidiary of Bank ABC, Bahrain) where he managed the treasury relationships of the European units. In 2016 he was appointed as the head of the newly created Libyan business unit. He has extensive knowledge of Libyan market, its financial institutions and corporates through his work covering Libyan for more than 15 years, as well as his position as holding a board membership of Libya’s biggest commercial bank for approximately 10 years.

In his capacity as the head of Bank ABC Libyan business he stays very close to all market developments through his network of contacts in the FI and corporate sectors (both Public and private) and regular travels to Libya. Assad will be able to share his experiences and contribute pro-actively to the LBBC and the important task of connecting UK with Libya to promote trade and business relations between the two countries.

Assad joined the LBBC Board as a Director in May 2022.