In March 2015, Cedrus Invest Bank SAL expanded to commercial and retail banking through the acquisition of the Lebanese operations of Standard Chartered Bank SAL.
Cedrus Group, composed of Cedrus Invest Bank (the investment/private banking arm) and Cedrus Bank (the commercial/retail banking arm), has emerged as one of the most dynamic and fastest growing banks in Lebanon.
As a former director at Barclays bank, Mr Assali led a team of private bankers covering the MENA and Gulf region, managing a sizeable financial portfolio on advisory and discretionary basis.
Prior to Barclays, Mr Assali spent more than twelve years at Bank Audi. He was last a regional manager at Audi Private Bank where he was also a member of the latter’s management and investment committees. In this position, he covered Lebanon, the Levant, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, and worked on integrating Audi Private Bank with other entities of the group after the Audi/Saradar merger.
During his time at Bank Audi, he was also assigned to Audi Saudi Arabia, co-heading the Wealth Management and Brokerage Units. He played a key role in preparing and following-up on the application for a financial institution license with the Capital Markets Authority.
Mr Assali also held a senior manager role at Banque Audi Suisse – the private banking arm of Audi Group at the time where he played a key role in establishing and developing its Beirut representative office.
He started his financial career as a fixed income trader at Audi Capital Markets in Beirut.
Mr Assali is a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and holds a BA in Economics from the American University of Beirut and an MBA from the Lebanese American University.
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