Michael Lesser Email & Phone Number

New York, New York

I retired from the QFC Regulatory Authority (the RA) in June 2011 and have returned to the US, I joined the RA as Managing Director of Supervision in November 2006. The RA was established in 2005 to provide a world-class regulatory structure for financial institutions established in the Qatar Financial Centre (the QFC). At the time I arrived, as the first MD of Supervision, the RA was just beginning to supervise its first banks and other financial firms. It has since grown to over 60 regulated financial firms covering banking, asset management and insurance. In mid 2009 I took on the added responsibility for the Authorisation Division. Authorisation handles the application process for all new firms coming into the QFC, including regulated financial firms and non-regulated firms licensed to operate in the QFC (eg, law firms, auditors, consultants, etc.).During my tenure at the RA we developed a supervisory programme leveraging off of our risk assessment process. Each regulated firm has a bespoke supervision plan allocating resources on a risk-focused basis including time spent on-site at the various firms.Supervision has several teams covering Local and Regional Banks, International Banks and Asset Management firms and Insurance (including intermediaries). Supervision also has responsibility for Anti-Money Laundering and includes a dedicated team reporting to one of my Directors. We also work closely with the Policy area in developing and improving the regulatory framework and with Enforcement on matters requiring their involvement. As a Managing Director I was a member of the RA’s Executive Committee and the Chairman’s Committee, involved in setting the RA’s strategic vision and directing the overall management of the organization, working closely with the CEO and Chairman and, more recently, with the Deputy CEO.

The Qatar Natural History Group (the QNHG) was founded more than 30 years ago in November 1978 to 'bring together people with an interest in the natural history of Qatar and the Gulf'. As Chairman, I let the Steering Committee which set the direction and governance of the Group. The QNHG has an international membership of several hundred. Its interests cover not only all aspects of natural history but also the culture, history and archaeology of Qatar, and talks are sometimes given on other places of interest to members. The activities of the Group include monthly talks from October to June and field trips or rambles at least twice a month during the season (from mid-October to late April) to places of interest around Qatar. The trips are usually led by people who have some knowledge of a particular region or subject, (geologists, botanists, archaeologists, etc.).

I was in charge of the supervision of Depository Institutions chartered or licensed by the State of New York. Previously I ran the Large Complex Banks Division, the Foreign Banks Division and was the Chief Bank Examnier, responsible for all safety and soundness examinations conducted by the Department and for over 200 examiners and other professional staff. I had responsbility for specialist examination teams for capital markets, trust, and information systems, the examiner training unit, the Department’s overseas offices in Tokyo and London and the quality assurance unit.As an examiner I spent several years on the Department's London office. I worked on the protocols for the US program and system for Foreign branches and Foreign Banking Organizations operating in the US. I chaired the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) International International Regulatory Task Force and was a member of its International Bankers Advisory Board and its Regulatory Committee. I represented CSBS and the Banking Department on the FFIEC BSA Working Group (the US Interagency AML working group).