John Kidd is a senior director in K2 Integrity’s Financial Crimes Risk Management practice based in Abu Dhabi. A risk management professional with more than a decade of experience navigating risk with financial institutions, John works with clients across the private and public sectors to design and implement effective financial crime risk management frameworks. He guides clients towards compliance with local legislation and international standards, advocating for prudent risk management as a foundation for long-term business growth.
Prior to joining K2 Integrity, John was a senior risk manager at DP World Financial Services Limited. As the firm’s first independent risk officer, he developed and implemented an enterprise-wide risk management framework to support rapid growth in the firm’s lending portfolio. A specialist in the risks associated with trade finance, John was responsible for embedding and communicating the firm’s internal risk assessment program to its board of directors and the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
Before his time with DP World Financial Services, John held various roles with HSBC Bank in Dubai. He joined the bank as a member of its Financial Intelligence Unit, where he developed and tested financial crime typologies using HSBC’s in-house proprietary technology, before moving into the second line of defense as a risk manager for the corporate banking division. He then took a regional managerial position with HSBC’s Trade and Receivables division, assuming responsibility for the early detection of fraud, red flag identification, and portfolio reviews across the structured trade finance book.
John holds an M.Sc. in international relations of the Middle East from the University of Edinburgh and a B.A. (Hons.) in political science from the University of Stirling. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. A native English speaker, John speaks Arabic to professional capacity.