Most Influential Women in Qatar’s Banking and Finance Sector
- Sheikha Hanadi bint Nasser Al Thani — Founder & Chairperson, Amwal
- Mira Al-Attiyah — CEO, QNB Capital
- Aisha Hussain Al Fardan — Vice Chairwoman, Qatari Businesswomen Association · Alfardan Group
- Fatima Abdulla Al-Suwaidi — Group Chief Risk Officer, QNB Group
- Noor Mohd Al-Naimi — SEVP Treasury, QNB Group
- Mrs. Maitha Mubarak Rashid Al Jabr Al-Naemi — Independent Board Member, Qatar Islamic Bank
- Farha Ahmed Al Kuwari — Executive Director of Strategy and Business Development, Qatar Development Bank
- Amna Jassim Al Sultan — Executive Director of Innovation & Digital, Qatar Development Bank
- Abeer Noaman Al-Emadi — Chief of Banking Operations, Dukhan Bank
- Reham Sabri — Assistant General Manager & Senior Director of Premium Banking, Commercial Bank
Qatar’s financial sector has long been defined by ambition, scale, and strategic vision. Today, a new and equally defining story is emerging — one told through the careers of remarkable women who have claimed their place at the very top of the country’s banking and finance landscape.
From the investment banking floors of QNB Group to the boardrooms of Commercial Bank and the pioneering corridors of Amwal, these leaders are reshaping what leadership looks like in one of the Gulf’s most dynamic economies. This is their story.
1. Sheikha Hanadi bint Nasser Al Thani
Founder & Chairperson, Amwal · CEO, Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani & Sons Group
Few names carry as much weight in Qatar’s financial world as Sheikha Hanadi bint Nasser Al Thani. A true pioneer, she founded Qatar Ladies Investment Company in 1998 — later renamed Amwal — making it the first regulated investment company to receive a licence from Qatar Central Bank to conduct investment banking, asset management, and wealth management in the country.
Her career is a testament to what visionary leadership looks like. She has served as a Special Advisor to Standard Chartered Bank and a member of the Bank’s Gulf Advisory Council, while simultaneously building a diversified business empire encompassing real estate (Al Waab City), automotive (Q-Auto), and trading conglomerates. With an estimated net worth exceeding US$15 billion, she is among the most financially powerful women in the Arab world.
Beyond Amwal, Sheikha Hanadi also sits on QNB Group’s main Board of Directors as a Private Sector representative for the 2025–2027 term — placing her at the governance table of the region’s largest bank as well as at the helm of the pioneering investment house she founded.
The accolades are as distinguished as the career: named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (2005), selected by the Financial Times as one of the Top 20 Female Role Models in Global Banking and Finance (2008), and consistently featured among the 100 Most Influential Arabs by Arabian Business Magazine. At Qatar University, she serves as trustee on the board of the College for Business and Economics — shaping the next generation of finance professionals.
Beyond finance, Sheikha Hanadi is the Founding Chairperson of INJAZ Qatar and INJAZ Al-Arab, organisations that have empowered over 51,000 students with financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills. She is also a Founding Co-Chairperson of the 30% Club GCC chapter, working to increase women’s representation on corporate boards across the Gulf.
2. Mira Al-Attiyah
CEO & Board Member, QNB Capital
Since assuming the leadership of QNB Capital in 2014, Mira Al-Attiyah has transformed the investment banking arm of QNB Group into a formidable regional and global force. Under her stewardship, QNB Capital has served as joint lead manager on sovereign, corporate bond, and sukuk offerings worth over US$50 billion.
Al-Attiyah has been a regular presence on Forbes Middle East’s 100 Most Powerful Businesswomen list, recognised for her leadership since 2014. Before QNB Capital, she served as Assistant Undersecretary for Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and held senior roles at ictQATAR, demonstrating a career that straddles public policy and private finance with equal authority.
In a sector where sovereign bond issuances define reputations, Mira Al-Attiyah has made QNB Capital an indispensable partner in Qatar’s economic story — and her own name synonymous with excellence in Gulf investment banking.
3. Aisha Hussain Al Fardan
Vice Chairwoman, Qatari Businesswomen Association · Alfardan Group
Long before she became one of Qatar’s most recognised business leaders, Aisha Hussain Al Fardan learned the discipline of finance from the ground up. A 1993 English literature graduate of Qatar University, she chose to earn her stripes at Commercial Bank, where she spent nine formative years rising to Ladies Branch Manager — a decade of client relationships and retail banking mechanics that would become the foundation for everything she built afterwards.
In 2003 she joined Alfardan Group, the family business empire chaired by her father, Hussain Ibrahim Alfardan, bringing a banker’s eye for risk, relationships, and long-term value creation. Her accomplishments have been recognised internationally, including a place on Forbes’ list of the 50 Top Businesswomen in the Arab World in 2006 and the Arab Women Award in London.
As Vice Chairwoman of the Qatari Businesswomen Association, she has turned her financial expertise into a platform for economic empowerment. She spearheaded the Qatar Business Women Award, held in 2009, 2011 and 2013, and helped drive the Qatar International Businesswomen Forum, which ran from 2010 to 2014 and grew into one of the region’s most respected gatherings of female business leaders. On the global stage, she represented Qatar at UNCTAD, making the economic case that closing gender gaps drives macroeconomic stability and growth.
4. Fatima Abdulla Al-Suwaidi
Group Chief Risk Officer, QNB Group
In banking, risk management is the architecture of resilience. Fatima Abdulla Al-Suwaidi, Group Chief Risk Officer of QNB Group, is one of the most credentialled risk executives in the Middle East — a rare combination of academic depth and strategic influence at the helm of the region’s largest bank.
Her qualifications read like a blueprint for modern financial leadership: a BSc in Accounting, an MBA from Qatar University, a Master of Science in Risk Management from New York University, a Juris Doctor from Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and a Doctorate in Business Administration from Grenoble Ecole de Management in France — with doctoral research focused on innovation in banking and cryptocurrencies. She is also President Commissioner of PT Bank QNB Indonesia and a member of the Board of QNB Finansbank in Türkiye.
With over two decades of banking experience, Al-Suwaidi brings a forward-thinking lens to risk — embracing digital innovation while safeguarding the institution’s integrity across 28 countries.
5. Noor Mohd Al-Naimi
Senior Executive Vice-President, Group Treasury & Financial Institutions, QNB Group
Treasury and financial institutions management sit at the beating heart of any major bank’s liquidity and interbank relationships. Noor Mohd Al-Naimi occupies this critical function at QNB Group as Senior Executive Vice-President — overseeing one of the most complex treasury portfolios in the Middle East and Africa region.
She is a vocal advocate for the systemic case for gender diversity in banking: not as a moral imperative alone, but as a catalyst for innovation, creativity, and a future where diverse perspectives actively shape the direction of the financial system. Her role places her at the intersection of global markets, monetary policy, and strategic institutional partnerships.
6. Mrs. Maitha Mubarak Rashid Al Jabr Al-Naemi
Independent Board Member, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB)
Mrs. Maitha Mubarak Rashid Al Jabr Al-Naemi joined Qatar Islamic Bank’s Board of Directors as an Independent Board Member for the 2026–2028 term, elected at the bank’s Ordinary General Assembly Meeting in March 2026 — a governance seat at Qatar’s largest Islamic bank, which reported total assets of QR221.1 billion in 2025.
Outside QIB, she serves as Assistant Undersecretary for the President’s Office Affairs at Qatar’s Supreme Judicial Council. She holds an Executive Master’s degree in Business Administration specialising in Development Economics, and received a World Bank Certificate recognising Qatar’s first global ranking in the Property Registration Index in the 2019 Doing Business Report.
7. Farha Ahmed Al Kuwari
Executive Director of Strategy and Business Development, Qatar Development Bank
Farha Ahmed Al Kuwari was appointed Executive Director of Strategy and Business Development at Qatar Development Bank (QDB) in 2021, part of a broader administrative restructuring that placed two women in senior executive roles at the bank the same year.
She has since become one of QDB’s public voices on the bank’s digital transformation strategy and its role supporting Qatari SMEs — from highlighting the contributions of Qatari companies to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 infrastructure projects, to outlining QDB’s digital platforms for entrepreneurs and government contractors.
8. Amna Jassim Al Sultan
Executive Director of Innovation & Digital, Qatar Development Bank
Amna Jassim Al Sultan leads Innovation & Digital (also referred to as Digital and Technology) at Qatar Development Bank, where she has overseen a run of industry recognition for the bank’s digital transformation — including “Best Corporate Bank in Digital Transformation in the Middle East” and “Best Corporate Digital Bank in Qatar” from Global Finance in 2025, following similar awards in 2024.
Under her leadership, QDB has rolled out a digital portal for account and financial management and strengthened fraud detection systems, aligning the bank’s technology strategy with Qatar National Vision 2030’s goal of a sustainable, knowledge-based economy.
9. Abeer Noaman Al-Emadi
Chief of Banking Operations, Dukhan Bank
Abeer Noaman Al-Emadi brings more than 20 years of banking operations experience to her role as Chief of Banking Operations at Dukhan Bank. Her career began at the International Bank of Qatar (IBQ) in 1999, where she rose to Deputy Head of Operations before IBQ’s merger with Barwa Bank formed what is now Dukhan Bank. In 2011, she won the Leadership Award at the Qatari Businesswomen Awards.
10. Reham Sabri
Assistant General Manager & Senior Director of Premium Banking, Commercial Bank
Reham Sabri has spent more than three decades shaping how Qatar’s financial institutions serve their most demanding clients. Her career spans branch management, premium banking, business development, marketing, and wealth management, offering a rare vantage point across retail and private banking in the Gulf. She holds a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo and an Executive MBA from HEC Paris.
Sabri’s influence extends beyond the balance sheet. As an active member of the Qatari Businesswomen Association, she has made advancing women in finance central to her professional identity, and speaks publicly to mentor the next generation of Gulf banking leaders.
Based in Doha, Sabri reflects a model increasingly visible across Qatar’s banking sector: senior women whose authority rests on decades of operational depth, not visibility alone.
The women featured in this article do not simply occupy senior positions — they define them. Across investment banking, risk management, treasury, digital transformation, private banking, and women’s business leadership, they are collectively writing a new chapter for women in Gulf finance.
Their careers remind us that the question is no longer whether women belong at the top of Qatar’s financial sector. The question, now, is how their leadership will continue to reshape it — and what the next generation of Qatari women in banking will build on the foundations they have laid.
At Woman Banker, we celebrate their achievements — and we look forward to honouring their continued impact on the MENA financial landscape at the upcoming AWIBFA (Arab Women in Banking & Finance Awards), 22 January 2027, InterContinental Genève.
