Ali Bailoun is the Regional General Manager for GCC Cluster – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman. He is responsible for overall strategy in KSA, Oman and Bahrain, including business development, resource optimization, and building long-term partnerships with Visa’s clients, fintechs, digital banks, government, regulators and other key stakeholders to drive the adoption of cashless payments and digital transformation across the three markets.
Ali is an accomplished business leader bringing almost 20 years of payments, banking and management experience to support issuers, acquirers, merchants and governments in Visa’s key markets to improve their profitability and grow their business. He joined Visa in 2012 and has since been responsible for the overall strategy that has successfully led Visa’s business.
Before joining Visa, Ali was the Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Riyad Bank where he successfully developed and executed their brand strategy to support the retail bank’s business goals. Prior to that, from 2006 to 2010, Ali was the Head of Marketing and Research at Saudi Hollandi Bank/ABN AMRO, where he worked in segmentation and product development. During his time at Saudi Hollandi Bank/ABN AMRO, he led the launch of a number of innovative firsts in the retail banking space. He was also a representative of the Saudi Central Bank Marketing Payments Committee.
Ali holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Marketing from the Lebanese American University and completed several leadership, strategy and decision-making programs at Harvard University and MIT Sloan Management.
