Visa has announced the appointment of Tareq Muhmood as Regional President for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA).

Visa disclosed that Muhmood in his new role, will be responsible for leading operations across more than 86 innovative and fast-growing markets.

The firm said its CEMEA operations currently serve more than 1,800 clients from 23 local offices across the region.

Muhmood brings more than 30 years of banking and payments experience to the role. He most recently served as head of Value-Added Services for Visa’s Europe region, based in London and originally joined Visa in 2019 as Group Country Manager for Southeast Asia, based in Singapore.

Before joining Visa, Muhmood held senior leadership positions with Ahli United Bank, ANZ, and HSBC.
Visa said Muhmood will be based in Dubai and will take on the role effective immediately, reporting to Group President, Global Markets, Visa, Oliver Jenkyn.

Muhmood succeeds Andrew Torre, who was recently appointed as President of Visa’s Value-Added Services business, which has rapidly grown into a $9B global business and has delivered annualized revenue growth of 20% since 2021.

Jenkyn said: “We are delighted to appoint a leader with Tareq’s deep experience at the intersection of financial services, technology, and high-growth markets to lead Visa’s fastest-growing region and continue our journey to advance the future of digital payments across CEMEA.

“During his career, Tareq has worked in 13 countries, and brings a unique global perspective, world-class leadership, and a proven track record partnering with Visa’s largest clients across diverse, complex, and rapidly accelerating markets.”

On his part, Muhmood said: “It is a great honour to lead the CEMEA region and to continue the tremendous progress that has been made in transforming the future of payments, commerce, and money movement across so many dynamic markets.

“Having spent more than a third of my career in the region, I am excited by the incredible opportunity to further expand digital payments amongst more consumers, merchants and economies. I look forward to working closely with our outstanding team to enable shared growth with clients and partners across the region.”