Karim El Assir

Karim El Assir helps companies assess risks and enter new markets across the EMEA region.

As a member of the Economics & Country Risk consulting team, Karim is responsible for advising clients on strategies to build and scale business abroad, particularly in emerging markets. He also provides guidance around understanding the political and operating landscape of markets in the Middle East and Africa and assessing and mitigating counterparty risk to support mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. He joined S&P Global from KPMG, where he led the MENA desk on its Corporate Intelligence team, providing clients with advisory services in the region. These included helping to develop new market entry strategies, gathering on-the-ground intelligence to assess the extent of a company's exposure to a variety of non-financial risks, and managing compliance and reputational crises post-market entry. His previous professional background is in political risk. Prior to joining KPMG, he helped start a political and economic risk consultancy based in Cairo, where he led the firm's research on the political environments of several Middle Eastern states.

Karim has degrees from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and the University College of Maastricht, and has lived and worked in Egypt, Germany, Morocco, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.