Daniel Hensel on 4most’s growing footprint in the region’s financial services landscape
A partner at 4most, Daniel Hensel supports some of the firm’s most important clients in the GCC region, bringing over two decades of expertise in regulatory consulting and risk management. We sat down with Daniel to find out more about 4most’s offering and how it helps financial services institutions turn risk and regulatory into a competitive edge.
What drew 4most to expand into the Middle East market and what role do you envision the region playing in the firm’s global strategy?
For us at 4most, the Middle East is more than a growth market, it is a strategic hub. It bridges our European and Asian operations and aligns with our mission to be the leading global independent risk and analytics consultancy. We entered the Middle East Market over 4 years ago and we have seen rapid growth since.
Initially the breadth of our existing relationships, particularly those of Manish Gandhi and Nicoleta Remmlinger opened lots of doors, which allowed us to establish a track record of delivering results for our customers.
Our continued expansion into the Middle East since that starting point is a key part of 4most’s global growth journey. The region’s financial sector is undergoing rapid transformation, with regulators and institutions alike embracing innovation and data-driven decision-making. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are setting ambitious agendas for digital finance and risk governance, which are areas where 4most excels.
With a substantial number of financial institutions already engaged in the UAE alone, including our involvement in the Central Bank of the UAEs Supervisory Technology Program, and our expansion into Saudi Arabia, the region is a cornerstone of our long-term vision.
How is the risk landscape evolving across Middle Eastern financial institutions, and where do you see the biggest gaps in current analytics practices?
We are seeing a shift from compliance-focused risk management to proactive, data-led strategies. Regulatory bodies like the Central Bank of the UAE are raising the bar with initiatives such as the Model Management Standards and Guidance (MMS/MMG) and the Credit Risk Management Standards (CRMS), which are prompting banks to rethink their model governance frameworks.
However, many institutions still operate with legacy systems and siloed data. The most significant gaps lie in model lifecycle integration, stress testing sophistication, and ESG risk quantification. There is also a growing need for agile analytics that can respond to geopolitical and macroeconomic volatility, something that we are addressing through tailored accelerators and scenario tools.
In a market flooded with consultancies, what makes 4most’s approach to data and analytics truly transformative for banks in this region?
In my opinion, what sets us apart is our ability to combine deep regulatory expertise with practical delivery. We are not just advisors, we are implementers. Our teams bring hands-on experience from global tier 1 banks and regulators, and we have built a reputation for delivering cost-effective, high-impact solutions across IFRS 9, IRB, stress testing, and model risk management.
Our hybrid delivery model – blending local presence with international centres of excellence – enables us to offer flexibility, speed, and value. We are also investing in proprietary tools and accelerators that reduce time-to-value and enhance model transparency, which is critical in this region’s evolving regulatory climate.
Can you share a standout case or insight from your previous work that demonstrates how analytics reshaped a financial institution’s risk strategy?
Like many 4mosters, I am privileged to have spent time in my career in both as a consultant and as a banker. From this experience, I would say the two biggest standout cases come from the adoption of A-IRB and IFRS 9. Whilst one addresses capital requirements and the other focuses on loss provisioning, both are large scale programmes that cover many stakeholders and areas of the banks’ operations.
The implementation of IFRS 9 and the pursuit of Advanced-IRB status have significantly transformed how financial institutions approach risk strategy, both from a regulatory compliance and a business optimisation perspective.
Institutions that successfully integrate IFRS 9 and A-IRB frameworks benefit from:
- Improved capital efficiency, by aligning provisioning and capital buffers more closely with actual risk.
- Enhanced pricing and portfolio management, through more accurate and timely risk insights.
- Regulatory credibility, which can support expansion into new markets or product lines.
Looking ahead, the emergence of ESG as a principal risk type is likely to lead to similar strategic change covering numerous areas such as data, models, systems and risk appetite.
4most prides itself on being “energised by collaboration”. What does that look like in practice across multicultural teams and client ecosystems in the region?
Collaboration at 4most is both cultural and structural. In the Middle East, we have a diverse team that blends local market knowledge with global expertise. Our consultants, from Dubai to London to Bengaluru, work seamlessly across borders, supported by shared delivery frameworks and knowledge hubs and an aligned sense of purpose.
It is also not just about collaboration within 4most, but equally important is how we collaborate with our clients. It may be a cliché, but our clients see us as trusted advisors and we take this responsibility seriously to ensure that our solutions are not just technically sound but also contextually relevant. This collaborative ethos is what enables us to build lasting partnerships and deliver sustainable impact.
How do you plan to build trust and relevance with financial leaders who may still rely on legacy systems and intuition over data?
Trust is earned through relevance and results. The Middle East team and I make sure that we meet our clients regularly to understand their legacy constraints, regulatory pressures, and strategic ambitions. This deep understanding of our clients’ challenges and those faced by the market allows us to develop solutions that are pragmatic, not prescriptive, but also relevant to those challenges.
We focus on quick wins that demonstrate immediate value, while laying the groundwork for broader transformation. By aligning our work with regulatory timelines and business priorities, we position ourselves as enablers, not disruptors.
Our clients also value the perspectives that we provide, not just from the UAE, but from global best practices. We provide these views from regular meetings and hosting industry roundtables, where we bring together experts from across our client base to discuss emerging trends and upcoming regulations.
We believe this is a winning formula that is demonstrated by the number of organisations we are working with in the region across multiple recurring projects.
What trends in regulatory environments, fintech innovation, or ESG are you closely watching, and how do these shape 4most’s offerings in the Middle East?
We’re closely tracking three key trends:
Regulatory sophistication
The CBUAE and SAMA are pushing for more robust model governance, which aligns with our strengths in validation, stress testing, and model risk management.
Fintech convergence
As digital lenders and neobanks gain traction, we are supporting them with scalable, low-data-volume modelling solutions and adoption of AI. The use of AI is not limited to FinTech’s, we are seeing an explosion in the number of AI use cases from model development and validation to policy review and assurance.
ESG integration
We are seeing a significant focus in ESG integration, highlighted by the Central Bank of UAE’s recent Climate Forum. We are collaborating with our clients in the region in many aspects in this evolving area, including Sustainable Islamic Finance frameworks and policies, climate data frameworks and the use of climate data within stress testing activities.
Looking ahead, what impact do you hope 4most will make not only on clients’ bottom lines, but on the broader financial landscape in the region?
Our ambition is to be more than a consultancy, we want to enable our clients to contribute to the ambition to make the Middle East the global leader in ESG, credit risk and regulatory analytics. By embedding advanced analytics, fostering regulatory readiness, and enabling data-driven cultures, we aim to elevate the region’s financial resilience and innovation maturity.
We want our clients to see us not just as service providers, but as strategic partners who help them navigate complexity, unlock value, and lead with confidence in a rapidly changing world.
