Hussein Choucri is the Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of HC Securities & Investment. Mr. Choucri has led HC Securities and Investment to become one of the most renowned financial institutions in the MENA region with operations in Egypt and the UAE.
Mr. Choucri joined Morgan Stanley in New York in 1980 and was Managing Director from 1987 to 1993, and Advisory Director until December 2007. He was responsible for business activities in the emerging markets of the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. He was involved in a variety of privatization projects in Turkey, India and Argentina. Additionally, Mr. Choucri undertook a number of advisory services for clients of Morgan Stanley inside and outside of the USA.
Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he worked with the Abu Dhabi Investment Company and participated in arranging several Euroloan and Eurobond financings for sovereigns and private sector companies.
Mr. Choucri is currently a board member of Fawry Banking and Payment Technology Services, Edita Food Industries, Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH). He is a GA member of the Egypt Sovereign Wealth Fund and a board member in the Egyptian British Business Council (EBBC) and the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES).
Mr. Choucri acquired the position of board member in; Delta International Bank during the period of 1995-2007, Banque Misr 2002-2004, SODIC 2015-2020 and The Holding Company for Tourism and Hotels (HOTAC) 2005-2018.
He received a Management Diploma from the American University in Cairo in 1978 and his B.A. from the Faculty of Commerce, Ain Shams University in 1972.
Alexandra Balafa joined HC Middle East LIMITED in 2010, with over 18 years of banking experience in Europe and the Middle East region. During her career, she has engaged primarily in mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and corporate finance and management consulting activities. Prior to joining HC, Alexandra worked for MeNA Financial Group and NBK Capital, managing the investment banking teams, focusing on M&A, strategic growth initiatives, and corporate restructuring opportunities. Alexandra also worked for Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen in the GCC, and Coopers & Lybrand in Greece, focusing on reorganizations, M&A, and capital raising solutions involving equity and senior debt financing activities. Over the course of her career, Alexandra has transacted deals in several industries ranging USD15m–USD300m in size for several public and private institutions.
Alexandra holds an MBA from the Canterbury Business School at the University of Kent, UK, and a BA in business administration from the American University, Greece.
Mohamed Salama joined HC in 2023, with 9 years experience of investment banking and private equity experience in Egypt and the Middle East. Mohamed has executed mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital market transactions in excess of USD 1 Billion, across diverse sectors that include agribusiness, building materials, chemicals, food and beverage, non-banking financial services, e-payments, healthcare services, waste management and recycling. Prior to joining HC, Mohamed worked for Al Ahly Pharos Investment banking; and, for First Equity Partners. Mohamed holds a BSc Financial Economics from City, University of London.
Hassan Choucri has been managing director of HC Brokerage since 2012. During 2006–2012, Hassan served as managing director of Al-Futtaim HC Securities LLC (AFHC) since its inception. Prior to that, he worked at HC Brokerage in Egypt, assuming the responsibilities of a junior on the foreign sales desk in 1999, then as a foreign sales manager in 2001. His primary tasks involved acquiring and generating business from international financial institutions. In his tenure at HC, he also oversaw the execution of international institutional trading activities in the market. Hassan started his career in 1996 at Egyptian daily newspaper Al Borsa.
Hassan holds a MBA from the London Business School, University of London and graduated with a BA in business administration from Ain Shams University.
Wael Wagih joined HC in 2002, with more than 30 years of experience in the field of banking and financial markets. As chief executive officer, his responsibilities include managing assets invested in global debt markets and capital markets. Wagih manages a number of money market and balanced funds and capital protected fund for many banks inside Egypt of a regional and international nature,In addition to several financial portfolios for many institutions and individuals with financial solvency.
Wael Wagih’s responsibilities include setting the investment policy for asset management for all investments in fixed income instruments in addition to managing the cash surplus of all funds under the management of HC. He is a member of the investment committee and the investment risk management committee.
Prior to HC, Wagih worked for 9 years at the Commercial International Bank treasury and dealing room, managing the bank’s debt securities portfolios, Eurobond and international corporate bond portfolios, as well as its equity trading portfolio. Wael Wagih was the treasurer, board member, and member of the executive committee for ACI-Egypt (the Financial Markets Association-Egypt) 2014 – 2023. He was a board member at Misr for Central Clearing Depository and Registry (MCDR) June 2020 – September 2021.
He received his BA from the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration (foreign trade), majoring in accounting, from Helwan University. He has completed a number of training programs at JP Morgan Chase Bank (London), Dresdner Bank (Frankfurt), and Crédit Agricole Indo-Suez (London). He has also completed the investment course provided by CIB, courses administered by the Institute for International Research, the Egyptian Capital Market Association, the Egyptian Banking Institute, and the Advanced Derivative Applications for Asset Managers from New York Institute of Finance. Wael Wagih also received a treasury management diploma from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
Ahmed Hakam joined HC in March 2010, he was named Head of Business Development of HC Asset Management in 2020. Before that he was Executive Director and Senior Investment Manager Of HC Asset Management whose responsibilities included management of a number of mutual funds in addition to several segregated portfolios for various institutions and high net worth individuals. Ahmed has over 30 years of capital market and banking experience. Before joining HC, he was the head of wealth management and corporate clients at the United Bank. Ahmed also represented the bank on the board of some of its subsidiaries in both capital market and banking sectors. Prior to that, he worked as the treasury department manager at Piraeus Bank, Egypt, and in the investment and international finance sectors at the Arab International Bank. He attended several courses in the field of capital markets and risk management, financial and technical analysis, hedge funds, ETFs, and asset management.
Ahmed received a BA in Commerce from the Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University.
Hassem Kortam joined HC as a senior investment manager in June 2005 with over 20 years of experience in banking and the financial services industry, his responsibilities involve managing funds and portfolios for both institutional and high net worth individuals. Hassem also provides employee training at different distribution channels, including management personnel of several banks to increase knowledge about the asset management business and improve the level of expertise in dealing with investors. Before joining HC, he was an investment manager (fund manager and portfolio manager) at numerous specialist companies, including Cairo Capital Group. In 1996, he managed the portfolio of the National Bank of Egypt along with their Funds No.1 and No.2, from 1993 to 1996. Prior to that that, Hassem was the head of the research team at the bank’s asset management division.
Hassem attended several courses in the field of capital markets, in addition to a technical analysis course sponsored by the Egyptian Capital Markets Associations (ECMA). He received his MA in financial sciences and portfolio management, and his BA in economics from Cairo University.
NematAllah Choucri is head of equity research at HC Brokerage as well as the head of the real-estate sector team. She has been with HC Research since 2001, covering numerous sectors, including real estate, cement, telecoms, and fertilizers.
Nemat has over 14 years of experience in finance and holds a BA from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University. She also completed the investment banking analyst training program of Morgan Stanley in London in 2005.
Mohamed is currently an Executive Director and Head of the Technical Analysis department for HC Brokerage (HCB), Cairo, Egypt. He started his career working for Momentum Wavers, Ltd., a Middle East Technical Analysis firm (2001-2004). He joined HCB as an Associate/Lead Technical Analyst (2004-2006). Later he joined Unifund, a Geneva-based global private fund (2006-2007) as a Chief Technical Strategist/Co-Fund Manager to the Middle East investments. Mohamed holds an MBA in Finance, and is currently a DBA student.
Mohamed previously held several prominent positions including President of the International Federation of Technical Analysts (IFTA), as well as Chairman of the Egyptian Society of Technical Analysts (ESTA), and ESTA Head of Education Committee. Mohamed authored several TA-related articles and developed several indicators including the Volatility-Based Envelopes (VBE), the Implied Volatility Projection Range (IVPR) and Relative Performance Candlestick Charts (RPCC).
Khaled Abdel Wanis has been with HC Brokerage since 1997, currently heading operations, including setting and reviewing policies, managing team resources, conducting in-house rotational training across all functions and maintaining a backup plan, pricing and supervising OTC deals, arranging the workflow and cycles inside the department as well as with the accounting department, and marketing custody services.
Khaled received a BA in accounting from the Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University in 1995 as well as a safekeeping license from the Misr for Central Clearing, Depository, and Registry and an operations executive license from the Capital Market Authority, both in 1997.
