About Ezelman

Senior-led Boutique Advisory in Financial Risk Management

Founded by practitioners, for practitioners who demand depth and accountability. We bring Big-4 rigour, boutique agility, and battle-tested insight to every engagement.

20+

Years Experience

50+

Mandates Delivered

Countries

Senior Practitioners

Our Story

Built by Practitioners, for Practitioners

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Ezelman was founded in 2020 by Hannan Mohammad after 20+ years of hands-on experience at G-SIBs and supervisory institutions. After more than twenty years building and leading risk functions at Europe's largest banks — managing credit risk across multiple business lines, leading model validation teams, and advising central banks on regulatory frameworks — Hannan observed a clear market gap: large advisory firms had abandoned the senior, hands-on delivery that CROs demanded, while smaller boutiques lacked the depth of experience to guide large-scale regulatory programmes.

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Ezelman exists to fill that gap. We bring the technical rigour of a Big-4 practice, the agility of a boutique, and the battle-tested insight of practitioners who have sat across from supervisors, designed capital models under pressure, and managed real-world remediation in real time.

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Ex-KPMG Director Senior Manager & Director

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G-SIB Experience Europe's largest banks

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Several Mandates Basel IV, ECB, ICAAP, Stress Test

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8 Countries Europe & GCC presence

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Financial Engineering Advanced degree holder

Our Mission

The Trusted Partner for Tier-One Banks

To be the trusted partner for Tier-One banks and G-SIBs navigating regulatory complexity, capital transformation, and strategic risk challenges. We exist to deliver senior-led, hands-on advisory that gives CROs and risk leaders the confidence and insight they need to make decisions under uncertainty.

Our Values

What Drives Us

Four principles that guide every engagement, every interaction, every deliverable.

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Depth Over Volume

We focus on substantive problems, not checkbox compliance. Every engagement brings hands-on senior involvement, not junior learning.

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Practitioner Credibility

We have lived in the roles we advise on. This credibility is our currency. We earn it through authentic engagement and consistent delivery.

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Supervisory Discipline

We understand what supervisors expect because we have worked for them and with them. We advise banks to exceed supervisory expectations, not meet minimums.

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Regional Expertise

We operate across Europe and the GCC, bringing comparative regulatory insight and best-practice knowledge across regions and cultures.

Global Reach

Geographic Presence

We operate across 8 countries in Europe and the GCC, with on-ground partners in Paris, London, Frankfurt, and Dubai. Our regional presence is not symbolic — we maintain local relationships with ECB, national competent authorities, GCC central banks, and peer institutions.

Paris

London

PRA / FCA

Frankfurt

ECB / BaFin

Dubai

GCC Hub

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Europe

France, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy

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GCC

United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar

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Coverage

8 countries · ECB, EBA, PRA, BaFin, ACPR, CBUAE, SAMA, QCB

Leadership

Our Founder

Hannan Mohammad

Founder & Managing Partner

🎓 Ex-KPMG Director 🕐 20+ Years 🏛️ G-SIB Experience 🌎 Paris · London · Dubai

Hannan brings 20+ years of hands-on experience in financial risk management at G-SIBs and supervisory-facing programmes. Before founding Ezelman, he spent many years at KPMG as Senior Manager and Director, leading large-scale regulatory programmes (Basel IV, ICAAP, ECB inspections) across Europe. Prior to that, he held senior risk roles at two leading European banks, covering credit risk across wholesale banking, retail lending, and trading book operations. He holds an advanced degree in Financial Engineering and is an active member of risk management professional bodies. Hannan is based in Paris and splits time across Europe and the GCC.

View full profile → LinkedIn

Our Journey

Milestones

2020

Founded

Ezelman established as boutique advisory in Financial Risk Management. First client engagement: IBOR transition programme, deleveraging and various regulatory and transformation projects.

2022

Regulatory programme

Start Basel IV readiness assessment for a major European G-SIB. Became trusted advisor on regulatory programme for SSM-supervised institutions.

2023–2024

Thought Leadership & CRR3 Focus

Launched Regulatory Radar as primary thought leadership platform. Became leading advisor on CRR3 and Basel IV implementation. Expanded service offerings to include risk transformation and inspections.

2025

ECB On-Site Inspection

Launch OSI assistance at a EU G-SIB under CRR3 and several application forms and approval packages.

2026

Strategic Growth

Continued focus on CRR3 / Basel IV advisory for Tier-1 bank readiness. Deepened thought leadership on regulatory trends. Planning expanded service offerings for risk transformation and governance advisory. Preparation of EBA Stress Test 2027.

Our Partners

A small, named set of firms we co-bid and sub-contract with on Tier-1 mandates that need named senior depth on a critical workstream. Partnerships are explicit, not generic referral arrangements.

Big 4 · Co-bid partner

KPMG

Long-standing co-bid partner on G-SIB capital and inspection mandates where global Big 4 reach + named senior boutique depth is the right shape. Hannan was Director, Financial Risk Management Advisory at KPMG France (Dec 2015 — Mar 2020).

Boutique · Strategic partner · France

Bolder Advisory

French strategic advisory partner. Joint senior-led delivery on French G-SIB transformation and regulatory programmes — combining Ezelman's risk-and-supervisory depth with Bolder's transformation execution.

Big 4 partner channel: If you are a Big 4 partner needing named senior depth on a critical Tier-1 workstream — co-bid or sub-contract — write directly to hmohammad@ezelman.com.

Conflicts & supervisory scope

Ezelman supports banks in preparing their own response to supervisory findings, ICAAP / SREP cycles and on-site inspections. We do not represent banks against the SSM or any competent authority in formal disputes, appeals, or contested-facts proceedings.

Our scope is the bank's own internal process: data, governance, narrative, and the disciplined response to a supervisory question. The conversation with the supervisor is the bank's. The work is the bank's. We bring the practitioner depth.

Our walk-away clause

We decline mandates where the bank is structurally unready.

A regulatory programme cannot be rescued by a consultant alone. If foundational data, governance or sponsorship is missing, we will say so before a term-sheet is signed — and walk away. We work with banks that can be helped. That is the single clearest signal of what Ezelman is — and what we are not.

01 · Data

Foundations traceable. If risk data cannot be reconciled to source, the programme fails before it starts.

02 · Governance

Management-body owned. A CRO-only mandate without board air-cover is not a mandate we take.

03 · Sponsorship

One named sponsor. We need a single owner accountable, not a steering committee dispersing risk.

Ezelman · Senior-only FRM boutique · Paris, Frankfurt, London, Riyadh

For Non-Executive Directors

Independence statement, conflicts policy, PI cover and the reference process are consolidated for Board Risk Committee Chairs. See the governance pack →

Position paper · on the record

Founder-owned. Deliberately. Published commitments on the roster cap, the signing-partner-is-defending-partner rule, and the second-partner roadmap (target end-2027; early conversations only). Read our stance →