Rania Nashar has been CEO of Samba Financial Group since 2017. 

Forbes has named her one of the 100 most powerful women in the world for the second time, the first being in 2018, making her the first Saudi female to make the entry twice.

The CEO placed at 97th on a list that featured names like climate-change activist Greta Thunberg, Emirati businesswoman Raja Easa Al-Gurg, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde. 

Nashar graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and information technology from King Saud University in 1997.

She also attended the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business in Charlottesville for a leadership development program in 2012. 

She began her career with Samba Financial Group after obtaining her bachelor’s, working as a private bank technology and quality assurance coordinator for nearly four years, before moving to e-consumerism for another four years.

In 2006, Nashar was promoted to anti-money laundering compliance officer, before she became the head of compliance less than three years after that. In October 2014, she became the chief audit executive, until she rose to CEO in 2017.

Samba Financial Group was founded in 1980 and has become one of region’s largest financial services group. Samba has over 73 branches in Saudi Arabia, with 25 dedicated to female customers.