Aluminium Bahrain appoints ex-consultant Adnan Hashim as new CFO

Aluminum Bahrain has announced the appointment of Adnan Hashim as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective from the beginning of last month.

With revenues pushing toward the $2 billion mark, Aluminum Bahrain, known more familiarly as Alba, is one of the biggest industrial enterprises in the Middle East – and, in terms of aluminum production, among the largest in the world. In effect as of last month, the former financial services consultant Adnan Hashim will now be responsible for the firm’s multi-billion dollar books as its newly appointed Chief Financial Officer.

A Certified Chartered Accountant from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, UK, with a distinction-level MBA from the University of Strathclyde, Hashim has a vast wealth of experience in the financial realm – and in particular in the MENA region – serving currently also as the Chairman of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) Members Advisory Committee for Bahrian, having been in the role since 2014.

Further, Hashim is the founder and Managing Partner of Istishara Consulting, a Bahrain-based consulting firm attending the wider Middle East with a range of advisory services in areas such as corporate strategy, acquisitions and joint ventures, start-up guidance, CRM and investor relations, valuations, and audit, accountancy, legal and tax outsourcing – with Hashim applying his knowledge in financial and management consulting, along with diverse skills in asset management, mutual funds, and mergers & acquisitions.Prior to joining Alba and founding his own firm in 2014, Hashim held the CFO position for nearly seven years at NCB Capital in Saudi Arabia, responsible for all of the financial aspects of the firm and its subsidiaries, before which he served as the General Manager of the organisation’s Bahrain office. The National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, which Hashim initially joined in 1993, is the second largest bank of the Arab world, while NCB Capital is the largest asset manager in the Kingdom, with approximately $40 billion in assets under management.

“We are pleased to welcome another Bahraini National to the Executive team in Alba,” the firm's Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray, said on the announcement, “Over the course of his career, Adnan has proven his leadership skills as well as his ability to deliver results at the executive level. Adnan’s experience in the banking industry will be a valuable asset to Alba as we continue to advance through our landmark Line 6 Expansion Project.”

The Line 6 Expansion Project is aimed at increasing the Alba aluminum smelter’s annual production by more than a half, adding 540,000 metric tonnes for a total capacity of 1.5 million per year. Expected to kick off production at the beginning of next year, the $3 billion capex project is one of the largest brownfield developments underway in the region, and will make Alba the world’s largest single-site aluminum smelter on completion.