He joins Alaric from Logica, where he was the Regional Sales Manager based out of Dubai, and prior to that he was the Regional Territory Manager for Middle East, Levant and Pakistan for ACI Worldwide in Bahrain.

"This is a really exciting time for the Middle East, which is bucking the trend of other parts of the world with economic growth and increasing consumer confidence. The financial institutions here have a strong appetite for new and innovative technologies, and many of them are currently evaluating their legacy systems which they feel are holding them back.

They want to replace them with a modern, flexible payments architecture which will help to differentiate their products and services, as well as growing their presence in the region. I am very excited to be able to introduce them to Alaric's product suite," said Ahmed, who is Director Middle East at Alaric.

"Tausif has an extensive experience and successful track record in developing and growing Middle East IT markets for both local and international companies," said Mike Alford, CEO of Alaric. "Recently we have seen more and more proactive enquiries coming out of the Middle East, and have started signing up customers in the region. We are delighted to welcome Tausif on board to bring his extensive expertise to Alaric and our customers."

"There are lot of new initiatives in the Middle East right now, especially in the e-commerce and m-commerce space and the market needs innovative, state-of the art and modern solutions such as those offered by Alaric. Financial institutions are embracing technology to help them respond and differentiate themselves, in both the payments and fraud areas, so the timing for Alaric couldn't be better," concluded Ahmed.

Alaric will be cementing its presence in the market by exhibiting at Cards and Payments Middle East in Dubai in May, the region's leading event for the industry.