Emma Smalls
Senior Director,Head of Corporate Risk,VISA CEMEA | KPMG Women in Middle East Leaders Outlook | Grant Thornton UAE Heriot-Watt University Women Transforming Financial Services|GAIA Women’s Network member | PgDip Law BPP
The move
MoveHSBC → Visa
TitleUAE Head of Business Risk Private Bank → Senior Director, Head of Corporate Risk, CEMEA, VISA
LocationDubai → Dubai
Career arcRecent arrival
Cross-border moveNo — same country
Years in UAE10.4
Total experience21.2 years
Visa headcount10,001+ employees
Visa industryIT Services and IT Consulting
Visa HQFoster City, California
Visa typePublic Company
Career arc
- Senior Director, Head of Corporate Risk, CEMEA, VISAMar 2026 — Present
Visa· Full-time - UAE Head of Business Risk Private BankAug 2025 — Mar 2026
HSBC· Dubai, United Arab Emirates· Full-time - Chief Control Officer Private Bank UAEAug 2024 — Aug 2025HSBC· Full-time
- Senior Business Risk and Control Manager HSBC Private BankMay 2024 — Aug 2024HSBC
- Head of Risk and Oversight UAE Retail & Digital ProductsApr 2022 — Jun 2024HSBC· Dubai, United Arab Emirates· Full-time
- Regional Head of Governance and Oversight, Wealth and Personal Banking, UAE&MENATFeb 2021 — Apr 2022HSBC· Dubai, United Arab Emirates· Full-time
- Regional Head Product & Distribution Risk (Wealth and Personal Banking) MENATJun 2020 — Feb 2021HSBC· Dubai, United Arab Emirates· Full-time
- Regional Head Wealth Risk MENATJun 2019 — Jun 2020HSBC· Dubai
- Senior Regulatory Compliance Manager, Monitoring and TestingNov 2016 — Jun 2019HSBC· Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Senior Compliance Manager Retail Banking and Wealth ManagementNov 2015 — Nov 2016HSBC· Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Compliance Manager Retail Banking and Wealth ManagementAug 2014 — Nov 2015HSBC· Dubai
- Compliance ManagerApr 2012 — Jul 2014
Barclays Bank· London, United Kingdom - Group Compliance AdvisorMar 2010 — May 2012
Amlin Plc
- Compliance ManagerFeb 2008 — Mar 2010
ICICI Bank UK Plc
- Compliance Assistant2007 — 2008
Melli Bank UK
Education
- Chartered Institute for Securities & InvestmentCertificate · Investment Operations2020 — 2020
- UCLBA (Hons) · 2:1 French1998 — 2003
- Chartered Institute for Securities & InvestmentCertificate · Introduction to Securities and Investments (International)2019 — 2019
- Chartered Institute for Securities & InvestmentCertificate · UAE Financial Rules and Regulations2019 — 2019
- BPP Law SchoolPgDL · Law2003 — 2004
- Chartered Institute for Securities & InvestmentCertificate · Level 3 Award Operational Risk2020
- Chartered Institute for Securities & InvestmentCISI Level 3 Award · Risk in Financial Services2020 — 2020
- International Compliance AssociationDiploma · Compliance2008 — 2009
Top skills
ComplianceRisk ManagementEnterprise Risk ManagementCorporate GovernanceFSACompliance Monitoring
About
* Risk Management professional with 20 years experience in financial services across Global and Regional leadership roles in FTSE 100 + 250 firms. * Top 10 Women Leaders 2026 The Women’s Post* Featured as one of KPMG’s 2025 Women in Middle East Leaders Outlook.* Selected as Grant Thornton and Herriot Watt University 2025 Discovery series, Women Transforming Financial Services.* Panelist and advocate for Diversity Equity and Inclusion and female leadership support.