Seif Fikry

CEO, Chimera Capital

Seif Fikry is a leading C-Level capital markets professional with nearly 25 years of experience in securities, coverage and origination, unrivaled market and regulatory knowledge as well as business development acumen in the field.

Seif joined Chimera Capital as a board member and CEO in November 2018 and helped launch the first SCA umbrella fund and the first SCA ETF in 2020.

In December 2015, he founded Afkar Capital – an incubator for fund start-ups and the first licensed entity in ADGM, where he launched the first UCITS physical in-kind ETF in the MENA region with S&P and BNY Mellon.

Seif previously spent 18 years at EFG Hermes, serving on their executive committee. He set up their first greenfield site from start-up to a leading market position in record time, leaving it 110 employees strong and with USD100 million in revenues from a total annual trading volume of over USD75 billion. Adding online trading, branches and call center services, EFG UAE became the first local broker ever to be ranked number 1 on both the DFM and the ADX.

Seif has a particularly strong reputation in the set-up and integration of new operations as well as a deep knowledge and understanding of the markets- their regulation and operation, as reflected in his 2013-14 membership of the ESCA Advisory Committee (Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority) and his current membership of the Nasdaq Dubai Practitioner Committee.

He also founded EFG Hermes’ One on One Conference in 2001. 20 years later, it is the largest, longest-running and most successful MENA-dedicated investment conference in the region, attracting some 1500 delegates.

Reflected in early MENA Sales awards from Reuters, Institutional Investor and later by MENA Fund Manager performance Award “ETF”, his knowledge of the client base (local brokers, asset managers, etc.) and what drives, motivates and interests them has given him consistent market-leading results.