* Sabina Saini and Darine Obeid were appointed as financial services attachés for India and the UAE by the FCA.
* Sabina will be based at the British Deputy High Commission in Mumbai.
* Darine will be based at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
* The appointments expand the FCA's global presence, joining existing attachés in Washington DC, Brussels, and Singapore, plus the Asia-Pacific network.
* Sabina Saini started on August 10, 2026.
* Darine Obeid started on August 31, 2026.
* Sabina previously managed work on the UK's third parties regime and operational risk/resilience policy at the FCA.
* Sabina has nearly twenty years of experience in financial regulation, audit, and banking, including eight years at the Bank of England.
* Darine Obeid has over ten years of experience at the FCA focusing on supervision across retail banking, wholesale banking, and fintech.
* Darine led engagements concerning financial crime, operational resilience, AI, and customer outcomes.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has appointed Sabina Saini and Darine Obeid as financial services attachés for India and the UAE, respectively. Sabina will be based at the British Deputy High Commission in Mumbai, and Darine will be based at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. These appointments expand the FCA's global presence to support international cooperation, exports, and investment into the UK.
Ruairí O’Connell OBE noted that these new attachés will advance the UK's interests regarding financial services policy and drive investment into the open market in India and the UAE. The FCA’s global network is presented as vital for executing its strategy, positioning the FCA as a globally connected regulator and international leader in financial regulation.
Sabina Saini brings nearly twenty years of experience across financial regulation, audit, and banking, including prior roles at the Bank of England. Darine Obeid has over a decade of experience at the FCA, specializing in supervision across retail and wholesale banking, fintech, financial crime, and operational resilience. Sabina commenced her role on August 10, 2026, and Darine’s on August 31, 2026.

The narrative emphasizes the strategic value of expanding regulatory reach and leveraging global networks to foster economic engagement with international markets, specifically focusing on investment and exports into the UK. The structure highlights a movement from domestic regulatory leadership to an expanded international presence designed to facilitate cross-border financial cooperation. A key implication lies in how physical representation is used as a tool for policy advocacy; placing attachés in key financial hubs like Mumbai and Abu Dhabi signals a commitment to operationalizing high-level strategic goals.
The pattern observed is the deployment of personnel with deep, specific regulatory and supervisory experience into geographically significant locations to translate abstract global strategy into tangible local outcomes. This suggests an underlying assumption that direct, localized engagement enhances systemic objectives. The absence of detail regarding the specific mechanisms by which these new roles will be implemented leaves room for questioning whether the focus remains on relationship building or substantive regulatory convergence.
What are the unspoken assumptions about the relationship between international representation and domestic policy implementation? Does this global network prioritize broad cooperation over deep, localized regulatory adaptation in India and the UAE? How does the defined experience of the appointees—one rooted in prudential supervision and audit, the other in specific banking sectors and fintech—shape the priorities for their respective jurisdictions? What metrics will be used to assess whether this expanded presence successfully drives investment versus simply reflecting established diplomatic channels?