Andrew Pople
CEO, Kessler Financial Services International (KFSI) & Vice Chairman, The Kessler Group

Andrew joined The Kessler Group in May 2003 and set up KFSI by building on Kessler's existing operations in Australia, Spain and the UK. Andrew's principal clients in the international market are Ace Europe, American Express, Citibank, Lloyds TSB and MBNA.

Prior to joining KFSI, Andrew held a number of positions at Abbey National plc, including six years as Managing Director of the Retail Bank, two years as Chief Executive of Scottish Mutual and Managing Director of Abbey National's Life Division and six years as Strategic Planning Manager and Regional Sales Director at Abbey National. Andrew was a member of Abbey National's plc board between 1996 and 2002 and during this time, he was also a member of the board of the Association of British Insurers from 1997 - 2002 and a member of the Executive Committee of the UK Council of Mortgage Lenders from 1998 - 2002 (Chairman in 2002). Prior to joining Abbey National, Andrew worked for five years at the Bank of England.

Andrew has an MBA with distinction from City University Business School.

Islam Al Bayaa
Managing Director, Investment Banking

Islam joined KFSI in June 2004 to lead our Investment Banking Group. In this role, Islam has advised leading UK financial institutions on seven transactions representing £550m of assets.

Prior to joining KFSI, Islam worked in M&A at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney (part of Citigroup) and Hawkpoint (a corporate finance boutique), focusing on financial institutions and the consumer finance market. Some of the transactions that he advised on include: the sale of Alliance & Leicester's credit card business (£800m), the sale of Abbey National's credit card business (£240m), the MBO of Cabot Financial (£100m) and the LSE listing of Investec.

Islam qualified as a Chartered Accountant (ACA) with KPMG in 1994. He has a Masters in Finance from the London Business School and a Masters in Mathematics from Cambridge University.

Keryn Brunner
Managing Director, Kessler Financial Services Australia

Keryn joined The Kessler Group in August 1998 and established Kessler's business in Australia. In this role, Keryn has positioned KFSI as the market leader in Australia's professional affinity market and spearheaded KFSI's expansion into Taiwan.

Prior to establishing Kessler Financial Services Australia, Keryn worked for MasterCard International in Australia for a year (co-brands and product development) and in the US for five years (global marketing). Before joining MasterCard, Keryn worked for five years at Ernst & Young in Wellington and Sydney in both marketing and auditing roles.

Keryn has a Master of Commerce from the University of New South Wales (Australia) and a Bachelor of Business Studies (Marketing and Accounting) from Massey University (New Zealand).