Adil Belhouari: Pioneering Data-Driven Solutions for Modern Banking Challenges

Adil Belhouari
Adil Belhouari

Strategic Vision Integration!

The financial industry has witnessed a transformative shift with the advent of advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. This evolution is reshaping the way financial institutions operate, from enhancing customer experiences and revenue increases to optimizing internal processes and cost efficiency. The integration of cutting-edge technologies has revolutionized traditional banking and paved the way for innovative solutions in marketing, risk management, fraud detection, and personalized banking services. The dynamic nature of the ecosystem in this industry demands a unique blend of technical expertise, creativity, and strategic vision to harness the full potential of these technological advancements.

Adil Belhouari, an internationally distinguished figure, pioneer and expert in this domain, exemplifies this blend of skills and vision. As the Senior Vice President and Head of AI, Data Science & Analytics Center of Excellence in Riyad Bank, one of the leading Banks in the Middle East, he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. His journey is marked by a profound passion for learning, discovery, and the relentless pursuit of excellence in quantitative fields. With a robust academic background in mathematics, statistics, and computer science, coupled with extensive professional experience across various industries, Adil has consistently demonstrated his ability to utilize data and analytics to solve complex business and scientific problems.

Currently, Adil works at Riyad Bank, where his leadership and expertise are essential in driving the bank’s AI and data science initiatives. Under his guidance, the Center of Intelligence at Riyad Bank, the first of its kind in the Banking industry in the kingdom, has become a hub for innovation, focusing on advanced analytics and artificial intelligence. Adil’s vision and strategic approach have enhanced the Bank’s operational efficiency and positioned it at the top of the technological revolution in the banking sector. His contributions have been widely recognized, earning him accolades and establishing him as a rare leading expert figure in the field of financial intelligence development.

Let’s explore Adil’s innovative leadership journey in the financial sector:

Passion for Learning and Discovery

From a young age, Adil has consistently demonstrated a significant interest and passion for learning, discovery, and analysis. His curiosity extends to data, situational information, and all things related to creativity and innovation. In addition to this, he possesses academic excellence and an aptitude for scientific areas such as mathematics, statistics, and computer science. These factors have fueled his desire and motivation to pursue a career in quantitative fields.

Adil has always found joy and excitement in dedicating significant portions of his day to using data and analytics to solve scientific and business problems. From the onset of his professional career, he has always believed that the use of AI, data science, and analytics requires not only technical skills but also a great deal of creativity and innovation, along with subject matter expertise. This belief has always kept him excited, happy, and fully engaged.

The combination of these factors, stemming from his academic background, the start of his professional career, and his personal interests, has made him extremely excited and motivated to pursue a career in quantitative and scientific fields.

Balancing Technical Knowledge and Leadership

Adil believes that his robust academic background, technical knowledge, professional ethics and diversified professional experiences across various industries have been instrumental in the success of his professional journey. When he refers to different industries, he means the financial industry, oil and gas, healthcare, music, and security, including Telecommunication. These diversified experiences have significantly aided his aspiration towards professional excellence.

Furthermore, he is confident that the broader and more insightful vision he has acquired through his journey has enabled him to experience, in succession, the world of consulting organizations, the perspectives of technology providers and implementers companies, as well as the industries’ end-user side. This has greatly facilitated his day-to-day activities and decision-making process. It has also assisted him in effectively managing interactions with his team, peers, and partners both within and outside the organizations where he has worked.

His main strengths lie in a combination of a strong academic background, rich technical knowledge, and professional experience, as well as his leadership profile. This includes managing interactions and relationships with his peers, team members and other stakeholders.

Transitioning from Consultancy to Organizational Leadership

Adil has always been drawn to and excited about scientific and quantitative field studies. After graduating from a specialized scientific high school, he obtained his first Engineering Degree in Statistics and Applied Economics from the National Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics in Morocco. He quickly joined the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as a Director of Economic and Development Studies, overseeing projects in North Africa and Southern Europe.

In parallel, he continued his postgraduate studies and obtained a Master’s Degree in finance and accounting from the Superior Institute of Commerce and Business Administration two years later. Eager to further his knowledge for self-development, he moved to Canada for a new chapter and adventure in his career, where he graduated with another Master’s Degree specializing in business intelligence and data science from the High Business School of Commerce in Montreal.

While pursuing his doctoral projects in Canada and studying in Montreal, he was awarded the first prize for academic excellence in the region. He continuously shared his expertise as a professor of statistics, mathematics, probability, and operational research at the same university in Montreal. His practical skills were developed by working as a consultant at a leading consultancy firm in the field of artificial intelligence since the early years of artificial intelligence appeared on the market.

He then transitioned his role as a director of analytics practice for the well-known American company, SAS Institute Inc., one of the world’s most renowned companies in technology and digital transformation. Lately, for the past couple of years, he has been working for one of the leading Banks in Saudi Arabia, holding the position of Senior Vice President, Head of Riyad Bank’s Center of Intelligence, which is the Bank’s Center of Excellence, focusing on artificial intelligence, data science, and advanced analytics.

So far, Adil highly confirmed that his experience and journey with Riyad Bank have been beautiful, very positive, and full of great memories and achievements. Adil’s academic background, his excitement and full engagement, his previous professional experiences, as well as his technical skills and leadership profile and competencies have helped him a lot in reaching where he is today.

Mastering Business and Technical Capabilities

In this very specialized and unique field of Artificial Intelligence and Analytics, Adil firmly believes that technical skills, subject matter expertise, analytical sense and problem-solving capabilities are key ingredients in the decision-making process, success, and professional excellence in this domain. He holds that the decision-making process always requires a clear vision and strategic objectives, as well as access to the right insights at the right time that will guide these decisions properly.

While problem-solving capabilities are necessary, success also requires a high level of creativity, innovation, technical skills and Business mastering capabilities. Thus, Adil confirms that problem-solving, creativity, and innovation are key factors for proper decision-making and a successful professional career.

Accolades in Financial Intelligence Development

Adil has always considered himself fortunate and deeply fulfilled by the great success stories and achievements he has realized and contributed to throughout his professional career. He is very proud to be frequently awarded and currently recognized distinguished figure and expert, not only in Saudi Arabia or the Middle East but worldwide, in the field of Artificial Intelligence and data analytics, as well as a reference point beyond the banking sector.

As a well-known, seasoned AI & Data Science strategy expert with extensive experience in multiple industries, in addition to his proven track record of superior achievements in cash flow and credit-driven lending data monetization business, Adil believes that he is extremely happy and satisfied with the local, regional, and international recognitions he received so far. The awards he received during his career summarize and symbolize some of these recognitions related to his significant and remarkable professional achievements and contributions.

These include an award for “The Best Leader in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science,” recognized in February 2022 by the Banking Artificial Intelligence and Analytics Summit in the Middle East. He was also recognized for his “Best contribution to academic and professional development in financial intelligence for banking professionals” in 2022 by the Financial Academia affiliated with the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia (SAMA).

In 2024, he additionally won the prize for the “Best use case implementation for Hyper-Personalization and Customer Analytics.” In the same year, he was nominated and Awarded with “Personality of the Year” Award at the Middle East Banking World Summit, recognizing his commitment and experience sharing in the banking industry. He was selected many times by different international magazines to be one of the most intelligent and influential leaders in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Analytics.

Adil believes that all these awards and recognitions symbolize his achievements and fulfill all his aspirations in terms of professional objectives to match his personal maturity and professional excellence goals.

Elevating Maturity through Group Collaboration and Achievements

Adil is convinced that passion, motivation, dedication, engagement and hard work are significant contributors to professional success. This is why he strives to bring his maximum excitement and motivation to his team daily by creating an encouraging environment. He believes that they should be part of the decision-making process and have ample opportunities for innovation, creativity, and growth.

He thinks that teamwork, knowledge sharing, and group contribution are far superior to creating a competitive environment and situations between team members. With a high level of collaboration, the group’s achievements and contributions elevate the entire Group’s level of maturity. The best group assignments and partnerships are always valuable for organizations. All this involves implementing structured Strategies and fostering a results-oriented culture within the team. These are Adil’s main leadership values, and this is how he always tries to inspire and lead by example and practice.

Prioritizing Efficiency and Effectiveness

Adil always strives to stay well-informed and updated about the strategic and transformational objectives of the company and always insists on properly communicating these goals to the team and ensuring everyone understands their role and expected contribution in achieving them. This knowledge greatly assists him and the team in effectively and efficiently prioritizing and managing their daily activities and tasks. Being aware of the company’s aspirations and strategic objectives allows him to align his tasks and day to day activities with the strategic goals’ achievement.

He always prioritizes the operationalization process by adopting and working in an agile mode. This approach supports Cross-functional collaboration, time management, effectiveness, and efficiency in such a dynamic working environment. In summary, to prioritize efficiently, it is necessary to understand and link day-to-day activities and requests to the company’s strategic and transformational goals. Additionally, adopting an agile and flexible methodology in day-today activities is crucial for properly and effectively allocating resources, communicating effectively, and managing time and the working environment.

By focusing on these strategies, you can ensure the team remains effective and efficient in driving successful outcomes from our AI and Analytics initiatives.

Consolidating Knowledge and Expertise in a Volatile Field

According to Adil, the technological domain, especially the fields of analytics, artificial intelligence, and the data science ecosystem, is incredibly volatile and dynamic. Staying up-to-date and aware of the industry trends and dynamics, particularly in the field of AI and advanced analytics, is crucial to professional excellence for someone like Adil. This is why he consistently dedicates part of his daily time to reading, listening, and watching materials about new trends and developments in the fields of predictive eye care, AI analytics solutions, and more related areas.

He considers himself privileged and fortunate to be a highly sought-after keynote speaker and panelist at different local, regional, and international summits, conferences and events. All these experiences are helping him consolidate and tune his knowledge and expertise as a professional and as a leader.

Personal Growth Through Attitude and Personality Coaching

Adil deeply believes that personal growth and coaching can significantly enhance the effectiveness as a Leader and as a professional. This is why he consistently dedicates part of his out-of-work time, including his free time, to reading, listening, and watching to stay updated about what is happening in the market in his field. He continuously devotes time and finds opportunities to have gatherings with his fellow colleagues in the industry at different events, summits, and conferences. They exchange knowledge, updates, and practices, which ensures continuous learning and professional development in their career.

Since the start of his leadership and executive management career, Adil has also focused on leadership, soft skills, and managerial learning. This includes continuous coaching on attitude on the leadership side and on the personal side. All these aspects are helping him ensure continuous learning and professional development.

To foster this personal growth, Adil always adopted several concepts like a Positive mindset, Resilience, Continuous learning, Self-Awareness and Adaptability. All this should be combined with Integration, Consistency and a high level of Engagement.

Self-Coaching for Work-Life Balance

The field in which Adil works requires a lot of engagement and dedication from his side. Taking a well-deserved break is an essential part of maintaining a work-life balance. Holding an executive senior management position puts him continuously under significant stress, potentially affecting his emotional stability and family quality time. Managing other people’s situations in this unbalanced work-life, he should also pay attention to his health and well-being, which should involve strategic planning and intentional actions.

Being continuously in a stressful mode can degrade the quality of his strategic decisions and human interactions. However, he kept trying to always find the best balance and he recently started a self-coaching program centered on the importance and value of maintaining a work-life balance. Through this program, he is trying to reach maximum balance using his individual passion. He is also trying to refresh his areas of interest and passion.

For Adil, concepts like prioritization, more delegation and effective time management are key factors to achieve this Work-Life Balance goal. Increasing the level of sports activities and exercise is helping him make this work-life balance more feasible. He is passionate and excited to create a sustainable work-life balance, allowing him to perform effectively in his career while maintaining his personal and family well-being.

Navigating Industry Disruptions and Market Dynamics

Adil, along with his fellow professionals in the industry, are facing several challenges that sometimes cause concern and worry and even hinder the achievement of their individual, professional, and organizational objectives. They are looking into and carefully following all the changes and disruptions happening in the industry as well as the new market dynamics.

With the emergence of concepts like digital transformation, technology revolution, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, Metaverse, Virtual and Augmented Reality, etc., professionals in this field have no other option than to be fast and innovative in how they are managing their day-to-day activities and deal with organizational issues.

Keeping the Organization’s Executive management continuously excited, adopting, adapting, and being educated to sponsor the investment in data and analytics is very challenging. This requires a high ability to balance quick wins and adopt and implement short and Mid-term strategies and projects.

The biggest challenges facing professionals in their fields are the volatility and dynamism of the market, the fast and repetitive changes that are happening, and keeping organizational executive management excited and adopting them. In his opinion, keeping the Organizations sponsoring investments in the areas of data, AI, and analytics are the main challenges.

Finding Satisfaction in Personal and Professional Life

Adil considers himself very satisfied, happy, and fulfilled in his personal and professional life. He added that finding satisfaction in both personal and professional lives requires a holistic approach that integrates your values, goals, and well-being.

He always highly believes in a Japanese concept of happiness called “IKIGAI,” which explains the main four sources of happiness and the secrets to attaining it. This concept conveys that “If you do what you Love the most in life, and if you are good at what you are doing, and are fairly getting Paid for it, and additionally to that you are utilizing it to help and support humanity and been socially responsible” you will reach a high level of satisfaction and happiness. Adil believes that if these secrets of happiness are achieved, in addition to the crucial importance of interactivity and spending quality time with his beloved and blessed family, he will be more and more satisfied and fulfilled, leading to a long and happy life.

The Essential Ingredients for Success in the Field

From a professional perspective, Adil believes that to be successful, you need to have the proper technical knowledge and expertise encompassing various fields like mathematics, statistics, computer science, and analytics programming. The second ingredient, which he considers more important than technical competencies, is business knowledge, Strategic thinking and field expertise. Without understanding the business pain points and the field challenges, one would not be able to come up with creative, innovative ideas or business solutions that are helpful for businesses to grow and develop.

In Adil’s view, the third ingredient that makes all the difference is one’s gift, whether it will be your analytical sense and your problem-solving attributes. He acknowledges that there are many very good, successful professional colleagues and fellows, but they will never achieve high level of expertise and excellence unless they are gifted in this field, passionate, and possessing a high level of analytical sense and problem solving capabilities.

Despite these three key ingredients, the professional needs negotiation skills, communication skills, Networking, Ethical mindset and all the other soft skills in terms of management and leadership. These are the ingredients that Adil believes are essential for professional and leadership success in his field.

He added that by combining these technical, strategic, and personal attributes, you can achieve success in this domain within any industry, driving innovation and delivering significant value to the Organizations.