Senior Advisor
Rafat Rizvi is a seasoned investment banking and asset management professional with extensive experience in global financial markets. He began his career in London in 1982 and has since worked in Chicago, Geneva, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Zurich. In 1993, he joined Kidder Peabody, a US investment bank that later merged with PaineWebber and is now part of UBS.
While based in Singapore, Rafat led the Non-Japan Asia Fixed Income division, establishing a prominent franchise in the region. During the Asian financial crisis (1997–1999), he gained recognition for his leadership in sourcing, restructuring, and trading distressed financial assets. He also made strategic investments in the South Asian and Indonesian banking sectors, positioning himself as a pioneering figure in these markets. In 2000, he launched a Mauritius-based fund that grew to over USD 3 billion in assets under management within a decade.
Rafat’s expertise spans regulatory and compliance matters, as well as navigating global sanctions regimes, making him a sought-after advisor in multi-jurisdictional cases involving financial structuring and regulations.
He has made legal history twice: first, as the first individual to successfully pursue legal action against a multilateral international law enforcement agency; and second, as the first individual to sue and prevail against a State under the OIC Investment Treaty in a landmark arbitration victory.
Rafat is a member of the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists and the Swiss Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
Recently, he has gained prominence as an expert in the preservation and protection of mangroves and their marine ecosystems, leading one of the world’s top five developers of high-quality Blue Carbon projects.