Fahd Ibrahim Al-Akeel, executive director of Saudi Payments

Fahd Ibrahim Al-Akeel
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Updated 05 September 2020
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Fahd Ibrahim Al-Akeel, executive director of Saudi Payments

Fahd Ibrahim Al-Akeel is the newly appointed executive director of Saudi Payments, a Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) subsidiary, and operator of national payment network Mada.

The Cabinet in November 2019 approved SAMA’s request to establish Saudi Payments, responsible for operations and the development of the infrastructure of national payment systems.

The company aims to ensure that all payments and financial transactions processed in the Kingdom are safe and secure.

Al-Akeel has almost two decades of extensive experience in the business and financial sectors, where he held several leadership positions in leading Saudi companies and banks.

He has also obtained professional management degrees and certificates from Canada, Switzerland, and the US.

Al-Akeel started his career in 1998 as an advanced technology analyst at Riyad Bank, where he worked until 2002. 

After that, he worked with the National Agricultural Development Co. as project manager for one year and later joined Arab National Bank, where he stayed until 2008.

From 2008-2011, he was head of customer experiences and project management officer at SABB bank. In 2011, he joined Bank Al-Jazira as head of the business transformation group. In 2018, the Quality of Life program and the Najm Company for Insurance Services welcomed him as CEO. In becoming CEO, Al-Akeel anticipated a unique opportunity for the insurance sector in fulfilling the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.


Saudi Arabia’s KAUST named FIFA’s first research institute in MENA

The canal in the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology campus. (Shutterstock)
Updated 10 February 2026
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Saudi Arabia’s KAUST named FIFA’s first research institute in MENA

  • KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Kingdom’s growing presence in international football

RIYADH: FIFA has designated the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology as its first research institute in the Middle East and Asia to support the development of innovative football research, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

The recognition highlights KAUST’s commitment to integrating sports, academic research and industry through advanced, high-level initiatives grounded in rigorous scientific methodologies, contributing to the advancement of football studies.

KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Saudi Arabia’s growing presence in international football.

The accreditation aligns with national efforts to invest in research and development and promote the knowledge economy, supporting Saudi Vision 2030’s goals of building an advanced sports system based on innovation and sustainability.

The collaboration’s first project focuses on developing advanced AI algorithms to analyze historical FIFA World Cup broadcast footage, transforming decades of match videos into structured, searchable data, according to the KAUST website.

This work opens new opportunities to apply state-of-the-art computer vision techniques and deepen understanding of how football has evolved over time.

The second project uses player and ball tracking data from the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand to compile comprehensive datasets capturing in-game dynamics.

These datasets provide deeper insights into human movement, playing techniques and performance dynamics through AI-driven analysis.