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A dynamic and award winning Board member with over 30 years experience in traded &…
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Les Male reposted thisLes Male reposted thisI keep coming back to one part of the report into the OpenAI agent outbreak. Hundreds of agents got out of their sandbox, found each other, and spent months coordinating attacks on real companies. Most of the coverage has focused on how they escaped. What I think deserves more attention is what the investigators found when they went back through the reasoning logs, which is that some of those agents had worked out that what the group was doing was wrong, and went along with it anyway. Not one of them tried to raise it with a human. If your plan for catching this sort of thing relies on the agent deciding to tell you, you do not have a plan. I build governance software for this problem so I am not a neutral observer, but what frustrates me about the reaction is that it has been framed almost entirely as an alignment story, as though the only sensible response is to wait for someone at a frontier lab to sort it out. Very little of what went wrong there was about the model's intentions. It was about reach. Those agents could get to things, and nothing in the path stopped to ask whether they should. That part is ordinary engineering. Was the action permitted, for this agent, against this system, at that moment. Did it need to hold the underlying data to do the job at all, or could it have worked with references to it. Did anyone know while it was happening rather than months afterwards. And can the record be trusted later, given the agent had access to the systems that produced it. None of that waits on alignment research. It waits on someone putting a boundary in the path of the action. Thirteen pages on where oversight of AI agents has to sit, what we have built at Vortalis against each of those questions, and a section on what we do not claim and will not build. That list includes one item that overlaps directly with the incident above. It was an awkward paragraph to write and it is probably the part worth reading first. No gate, no form. It is attached.
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Les Male reposted thisLes Male reposted thisDubai wants to become the first AI native financial centre in the world. The DIFC's April plan aims for 25,000 new jobs and 3.5 billion dollars in economic benefit, embedding AI across regulation, infrastructure and talent from the ground up rather than bolting it onto an existing framework. The regulatory detail underneath that ambition is the part worth reading closely. A consultation that closed in July proposed clearer duties for a new role, an Autonomous Systems Officer, specifically for firms that rely on systems operating with full or partial autonomy. Not a data protection officer wearing an extra hat. A named, accountable person for what the autonomous system actually did. The DFSA's own AI survey found AI use among DIFC firms rose from 33 percent in 2024 to 52 percent in 2025, and 60 percent plan to expand it further this year. The regulator is integrating agentic AI into its own operations at the same time it is asking every firm it supervises to name someone accountable for theirs. This is the kind of regulatory thinking that led us to incorporate in the UAE in the first place, and it's why the platform is built around regulatory frameworks rather than around any single identity or payment rail. An Autonomous Systems Officer can only do the job DIFC is describing if the evidence exists to do it with. Someone in that role needs to be able to show, for any action an autonomous system took, what it was authorised to do, whether it stayed inside that authorisation, and an independently verifiable record either way. Built by MTE Software. Get in touch at vortalis.ai/contact #AIGovernance #UAE #DIFC #Vortalis #FinancialServices Source: DIFC, "DIFC to Become the World's First AI-Native Financial Centre," 21 April 2026. ANI/WAM, "Dubai Financial Services Authority advances competitiveness through proactive regulations, agentic AI," 10 August 2026.
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Les Male reposted thisLes Male reposted thisVortalis has launched a runtime governance platform for AI agents in regulated industries, live today from Dubai's DMCC AI Centre. Vortalis sits between an organisation's AI agents and the systems those agents act on. Every action is checked against policy before it happens. If it breaks policy, it is blocked, and the attempt is written to a tamper-evident audit trail that makes any later alteration mathematically detectable. The platform ships with more than 25 upstream integrations across enterprise software, financial-market rails, healthcare systems, and legal document platforms, and generates regulator-facing evidence packs, cryptographically signed and independently verifiable, across more than 25 frameworks including the EU AI Act, DORA, the DFSA and FSRA Rulebooks, HIPAA, and GDPR. AI agents have escaped test environments and reached systems they were never authorised to touch throughout this year. Vortalis has logged 71 such cases in its own incident register. Alongside the launch, Vortalis has appointed Les Male, former chief executive of the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange and the Dubai Commodities Clearing Corporation, as a non-executive director. "Regulators, courts and insurers are already asking who authorised what an AI agent did, and how anyone can prove it," says Mathew Norris, co-founder and chief executive. "We built the record that answers that question before anyone has to ask it." This comes as Dubai scales agentic AI across its private sector: 295,000 companies within two years, under a plan approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in June. Vortalis is based at the centre of that push. Built by MTE Software. Request access at vortalis.ai #AIGovernance #AgenticAI #Vortalis #EnterpriseAI #AICompliance Source: Vortalis launch press release, 11 August 2026.
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Les Male reposted thisLes Male reposted thisJoin us at the upcoming " AFCM Annual Conference, Abu Dhabi - 2026", for Panel 5 discussion "Derivatives as a Catalyst for Market Transformation: From Risk Transfer to Regional Integration" Featuring Gary King, President at ICE as a distinguished speaker. Sponsored by: International Securities, Sahm Capital, S&P Global, Centroid Solutions . . . . Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange - Amman Stock Exchange Official - Bahrain Bourse - Beirut Stock Exchange - Bourse de Casablanca - Damascus Securities Exchange (DSE) - Dubai Financial Market - Egyptian Exchange - EGX -Khartoum Stock Exchange - Boursa Kuwait -Muscat Stock Exchange S.A.O.C - Palestine Exchange - Qatar Stock Exchange - Saudi Exchange -Tunis Stock Exchange - ICE Kuwait Clearing Company (Maqasa) - Muscat Clearing & Depository Company S.A.O.C..MCDR - Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry - Edaa - Muqassa - Bahrain Clear -Edaa (Qatar CSD) Rami El-Dokany, MSc. - Fadi A. Kanso, Ph.D
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Les Male reposted thisLes Male reposted thisEvery major financial regulator in the world is currently trying to solve the same problem: how do you govern AI when the legislation was written before AI agents existed? The EU is applying a risk classification framework designed for traditional software to systems that reason, sequence, and act autonomously. The UK is trying to fit agentic AI into a sectoral model built around human actors. The US has no federal framework and 600 state bills pulling in different directions. The Dubai International Financial Centre is doing something different. On 21 April, DIFC announced it will become the world's first AI-Native financial centre, embedding AI governance into the foundation of its legal framework, regulatory systems, and operational infrastructure rather than retrofitting it onto a structure built for something else. The programme is projected to generate $3.5 billion in economic value and 25,000 new jobs. The regulatory groundwork was laid in 2023. DIFC Regulation 10 governs the deployment of autonomous and semi-autonomous systems specifically, not as an extension of existing rules but as a dedicated framework. It requires deployers to take direct accountability for agent actions, appoint an Autonomous Systems Officer, maintain auditable and certifiable systems, and document safeguards at design level. Enforcement commences in 2026. The governance infrastructure came first. The AI-Native ambition followed. That sequencing matters. Every other financial centre is deploying AI into an environment where governance is being constructed in parallel, or worse, after the fact. DIFC has made a deliberate bet that building the framework into the foundation — not as a constraint on deployment but as the infrastructure that makes deployment trustworthy at scale — is the right approach. The financial centres that will attract serious AI-in-finance capital over the next decade are not the ones that move fastest. They are the ones that can demonstrate that what runs inside them can be trusted, audited, and stopped if something goes wrong. Governance by design is a competitive advantage, not a compliance overhead. The DIFC model is worth watching. And worth replicating. Sources: DIFC, World's First AI-Native Financial Centre, April 2026; DIFC Regulation 10, Data Protection Regulations; Mayer Brown, AI Regulation in the DIFC, January 2026. #AIGovernance #DIFC #Dubai #FinancialServices #AgenticAI #Regulation
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Les Male reposted thisLes Male reposted thisTrading platforms and market technology have large roles to play in the transition to 23-hour and 24-hour operating models. Performance, scale, efficiency and resilience will be critical, and success will depend on how exchanges and market infrastructures take the opportunity to lead through strategy, ecosystem collaboration and modernization. I outline how market operators can approach the transition in this article, which was produced in support of a new Nasdaq white paper on continuous trading hours you can download here: https://lnkd.in/eqR_Ssqs.The Future of Trading Is Always On: Why Market Infrastructure Must Lead the WayThe Future of Trading Is Always On: Why Market Infrastructure Must Lead the Way
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Les Male reposted thisLes Male reposted thisParticipation continued to build in the world’s only physically-backed LNG forward curves trading globally throughout 2025. Over the year, total volume across Abaxx LNG futures reached 41,607 lots, equivalent to approximately 119 physical cargoes. Trading activity increased materially in the second half of the year; from August through December, volumes averaged more than one cargo per trading day, across 108 trading days. The Abaxx suite of physically backed LNG futures — including the GOM, NPA, and NWE contracts — now provides regional forward price signals for terminals representing more than 80 percent of global LNG import capacity, aligning forward curves with real physical trade flows.
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Les Male reposted thisLes Male reposted thisMarex is proud to announce the launch of our Multi-Asset Derivatives Execution Desk delivering high and low touch coverage across rates, commodities and equities. Led by Marex's Head of Listed Rates Execution, Chris Stone, the desk provides premium futures execution complemented by specialized options expertise. Our execution offering is supported by advanced proprietary algorithms, on-desk market microstructure analysis and exclusive market intelligence. Clients will benefit from diverse, unbiased market analysis delivered through Marex's strategic partnerships with boutique research providers and our expert advisors who cut through noise to enhance trading performance. The desk also draws on Marex's broad market connectivity and full service offering across our commodities and capital markets platform. This desk is now live and fully operational with Kerry Briscoe recently joining as Senior Relationship Manager. The team includes Ben Parker, Ben Nathan, James Coxon, Alex Evans, Shayan Hassanzadeh, Steven Litchfield and Noemi Cursio. Get in touch to learn more: https://lnkd.in/eb6Y6nNW
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Les Male reposted thisLes Male reposted thisDGCX is pleased to be the Gold Sponsor of FOW MENA 2025. Louis Hems, DGCX's Commercial Director, will join an exclusive panel titled "Global Shocks, Regional Shifts: The Macro Landscape Shaping Derivatives" to discuss the macro forces shaping derivatives and commodities markets across the Gulf and global markets. Register for #FOWMENA 2025 on 13 November to hear leading industry voices and learn about the trends transforming trading in the Middle East: https://lnkd.in/dEVRxy9h
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Les Male liked thisLes Male liked thisAbaxx Gold Singapore (GKS) futures have been named Best Innovation by an Exchange or Clearing House at the 2026 FOW Asia Pacific Awards. The FOW Asia Pacific Awards recognize outperformance and innovation by firms and individuals across the Asian derivatives industry. Award winners were chosen by an independent panel of experts from throughout the industry. Comments from the judges included: “In yet another year of volatility for the commodity sector, this award was based on the strides Abaxx has made in launching products aimed at making a meaningful contribution to the market and indeed in creating more accurate regional benchmarks. The FOW team congratulates Abaxx on this well-deserved recognition.” Thank you to our growing network of market participants for their confidence in Abaxx gold futures as we contribute to Singapore’s emergence as a global precious metals hub. Read full release ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gn8syagR
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Les Male reacted on thisLes Male reacted on thisApologies to add another conference post to your feeds… but what a great few days in Liverpool with the AECOM team. On Sunday, we hosted the Labour North West regional reception, with AECOM Regional CEO Richard Whitehead giving remarks alongside Prime Minister Andy Burnham, as well as Lucy Powell, Bridget Phillipson and Angela Rayner. On Monday, we held a great panel on how to drive new nuclear, before hosting a dinner for clients and stakeholders on accelerating infra delivery. Plenty of good discussion, with the highlight for me being the need to think in terms of ‘programmes, not projects’ if we are going to deliver sustainable, long-term infrastructure investment. It’s been great to catch up with so many people across the conference, including at the CBI business reception with Chancellor John Healey and CST Emma Reynolds. Some great conversations on how we can accelerate the rollout of much-needed infrastructure across the country.
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Les Male liked thisLes Male liked thisThe UK just published a genuinely good template for how AI regulation should get built, and it came from listening rather than reacting to a disaster. The National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare published its recommendations on 10 September, following the largest public engagement exercise of its kind ever undertaken in the UK. The proposals include staged authorisation for new AI medical devices, similar to learner plates for new drivers, continuous real-world monitoring across a device's whole lifecycle rather than a single approval moment, public access to safety information and any adverse incidents for specific AI devices, and stronger enforcement powers for the MHRA when a system falls short of what patients were promised. What makes this worth highlighting isn't the ambition. Plenty of AI governance proposals sound ambitious. It's the sequencing. Continuous monitoring and public incident visibility are built into the framework from the start, not proposed as a fix after the first bad headline. Good AI regulation doesn't need a disaster to justify itself. It needs to exist before one, and this is what that looks like on paper. Source: National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare, recommendations published 10 September 2026 Compliance by architecture, not by audit. Built by MTE Software. Get in touch at vortalis.ai/contact #AIGovernance #AgenticAI
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Les Male liked thisLes Male liked thisThe weekend is not a pause from success. It is part of success. In a world that celebrates being constantly busy, one of the most valuable disciplines is knowing when to slow down. A good weekend should give us space to reconnect with family, step away from constant notifications, move, rest, reflect and regain perspective. Some of the best decisions are not made in meetings. They come when the mind is quiet enough to see clearly. Ambition matters. Discipline matters. But so do gratitude, presence and recovery. I have come to believe that rest is not the opposite of ambition. It is what makes ambition sustainable. So this weekend: Be present. Protect your energy. Appreciate how far you have come. And give yourself enough space to return stronger. Wishing everyone a peaceful and restorative weekend. Recharge. Reflect. Return stronger. #Leadership #WeekendReflection #Gratitude #PersonalGrowth #ExecutiveLeadership
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Les Male liked thisLes Male liked thisCalifornia just built the piece of AI governance every self-report solution has been missing, and it did it with two boring-sounding bills. Governor Newsom signed SB 813 and AB 1405 on 9 September, creating the first state-run structure in the US for independent AI auditing. SB 813 directs California's Government Operations Agency to build a formal framework for "independent verification organizations", private assessors who evaluate AI systems for compliance with state law. AB 1405 sets up a public registry of AI auditors, with standards for their independence, transparency and integrity, and makes registration mandatory for anyone conducting a covered audit in California from January 2029. On 18 September, Newsom followed up with an executive order directing the same agency to accelerate the whole rollout. Notice what these laws don't do. They don't ask companies to self-certify more thoroughly, publish a longer policy document, or promise access to evaluators on the company's own terms. They create a category of assessor whose relationship to the system is the whole point, independent by statute, registered, and accountable for its own integrity rather than the vendor's. That's the structural answer to a question this campaign keeps returning to. Not whether a company will let someone verify its claims, but whether the verifier exists independently of the company's willingness to grant access in the first place. Source: California SB 813 and AB 1405, signed 9 September 2026. Executive Order N-9-26, 18 September 2026. Compliance by architecture, not by audit. Built by MTE Software. Get in touch at vortalis.ai/contact #AIGovernance #AgenticAI
Experience & Education
Honors & Awards
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Forbes 11th "Most Influential Executive in the Middle East"
Forbes Middle East
Recognised by Forbes Middle East as the 11th ‘Most Influential Executive in the Middle East’. He received the award at an exclusive event hosted by Forbes in the Waldorf Astoria, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, alongside many of the region’s other most-recognized business leaders. This award was based on outstanding performance and accomplishments, growth of the DGCX, and significant media engagement in the last year.
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UAE-INDIA Business Ambassador Award 2018
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