EY appoints Omar Ali as UK Financial Services Leader
EY has appointed banking expert Omar Ali as its new UK Financial Services Leader. Ali, who has been with the firm since 2001, will leverage his almost 15 years’ experience to help EY’s global clients adapt to the changing financial services landscape.
Omar Ali started his professional career in 1998 after graduating with a Bachelor degree in Business Management from King’s College London. His first job was as a Management Consultant at NatWest Consultancy, where he worked for a year and a half. During this time, he also co-founded TheRumour, a payments and lifestyle start-up, for which he acted as COO until 2001. Late 2001, Ali joined EY, becaming a Partner at the firm in 2006. Between 2008 and 2012, he was the Head of Banking Performance Improvement and ran the firm’s UK Financial Services Banking Consulting business, after which he was named Head of UK Banking & Capital Markets.
As EY's new UK Financial Services Leader, Ali will lead a team of over 200 partners and 4,000 staff, which are responsible for some of EY’s largest clients globally, as well as continue to focus on client delivery and his own portfolio of accounts. As part of his new role, he will become a member of the EY UK Board and the executive board of EY’s EMEIA financial services business.
According to Steve Varley, EY’s UK Chairman, Ali brings valuable experience to his new role, “having grown and run our banking business, one of the largest sectors in the UK, so successfully for the past two and a half years. He has proven client focus and is well-known in the financial services market in the UK and beyond – a great addition to the leadership team.” Andy Baldwin, EMEIA head of Financial Services at EY, adds: “Omar has delivered strong leadership and market-leading growth for our banking business, and he takes this role at an important time for us as a business and the financial services market as a whole […] At home, the pace of disruptive technology is driving change in existing players and sparking a whole new generation of start-ups and challengers. I look forward to working with Omar and his team in the UK as we help our clients evolve and adapt to this new environment.”
Commenting on his appointment, Ali says: “I’m delighted to be taking this role and excited to be leading such a strong business and an excellent team of people in the UK.” He goes on to say that “a key part of protecting the UK’s strength in financial services will be ensuring that the next wave of innovation in financial services, be that from incumbents or new players, is encouraged, supported and delivered safely – and our team is uniquely positioned to do this.”
In its latest fiscal year, EY booked a revenue of £2 billion in the UK, up 8% from the previous year. Globally the accounting and consulting giant realised combined global revenues of $28.7 billion, an increase of 12% on FY14.
