About

Formerly known as Saudi Hollandi Bank, Alawwalbank is the first bank in Saudi Arabia founded in 1926 as a branch of the Netherlands Trading Society. Plagued by financial and political difficulties in the region over the past decade Alawwalbank relies heavily on its highly qualified legal team to support its objectives. To achieve a proper in-house legal culture, the team’s ‘diligent and attentive’ leader, Marouf Shweikeh has undertaken substantial training of the lawyers within the function. As a result, Alawwalbank’s legal unit now not only achieves high levels of integrity, but also handles 90% of all legal work faced by the company. This is particularly impressive, given the team’s small size when Shweikeh joined the company. Shweikeh says: ‘At first, the legal department consisted of three lawyers concerned with day to day banking activities and did no work with an international effect. Currently there are ten people in the legal department and I focus on engaging the lawyers in the business culture. Our lawyers now understand the business much better and often engaged in international forums and other events.’ Prior to joining Alawwalbank in 2013, Shweikeh worked in the legal departments of the Central Bank of Bahrain and TAIB Bank. He started his legal career at the law firm Mohammed Shweikh , where he served as a partner of over twelve years.