Emirates Islamic has announced the appointment of Emirati national Hessa Al Mulla as Head of Human Resources (HR) for the bank. Al Mulla has been with the group since 2004 and has worked in various units within the HR department, including Nationalization, Recruitment and HR Business Partnering. In her previous role as HR Business Partner, Retail Banking at Emirates NBD, she was responsible for over 3,000 employees with a strategic involvement in the Retail Leadership Team.

Al Mulla played a major role in the transition of the bank's business model in the Priority Banking and Small Medium Enterprise (SME) sectors after the merger phase. In addition, she worked for the SME Banking unit as the Centre Head for Emerging SMEs, during which the team received several accolades and awards including â Best SME Center for 2011.