IslamicFinance.de

Gulf Finance House (GFH) has issued a statement denying the suspension of the firm’s Acting CEO Hisham Alrayes. GFH clarified that its ex-CEO Mr Ted Pretty and Ex-Deputy CEO Mr Mohd Al Nusu were suspended for a period of three months. Both have already resigned from the company. According to the statment, the CMA had not imposed any financial penalty on the firm.

Ted Pretty, the chief executive of investment bank Gulf Finance House was asked to leave and will not return to the bank.
What Pretty was really brought on to do was swing the axe and lead a brutal cost-cutting and debt rescheduling program to try and fix the damage done to the bank by its over-ambitious real estate plans at the height of the Dubai property boom . Despite this the firm has struggled to build revenues.

Bahrain's Gulf Finance House GFHB.BH (GFHK.KW) Chief Executive Ted Pretty, who cut costs and rolled over debt but failed to kick start revenues, has left the cash-strapped firm.
A second source confirmed the departure. The sources said that disputes with GFH's Executive Chairman Esam Janahi were the main cause for his departure.
GFH denied, however, that Pretty had left the company for good.

A number of financial institutions in the Middle East still try to recover from the effects of the global financial crisis. One of the most severely affected institutions was Gulf Finance House (GFH), which has been undergoing some radical restructuring over the last 12 months. Ted Pretty, brought in from Macquarie Capital in late 2009, has already slashed staffing costs by about 66%; sold off some of the company’s assets to realise much needed capital and restructured debt, giving the company more time to meet its debt obligations.

Gulf Finance House, the Bahrain-based investment bank, aims to reach an agreement with creditors by early July on renegotiated terms for a $100 million loan as the lender seeks more time to implement its new business plan. The global financial crisis cut liquidity and lending, while Middle East property prices slumped, hurting investors in real estate projects in the region. Chief Executive Officer Ted Pretty said that the bank’s presentation of its restructuring package was “well received” by lenders along with its plan to change its business model to develop Islamic financial services.

Gulf Finance House announced that the Board of Directors has reluctantly accepted Mr. Ahmed Fahour's resignation as a Board Member and Group CEO of the Bank. Mr Fahour has been appointed by the Australian Government as the Managing Director of Australia Post. Dr Janahi announced the departure of Ahmed Fahour and the appointment with immediate effect of Ted Pretty as Acting CEO of GFHGFH

Gulf Finance House (GFH), the leading Middle Eastern Islamic investment bank announced today that the Board has appointed Mr. Ted Pretty as Group Deputy CEO of the Bank.